X3: The Ace of Spades
by BlackWodin
Summary: The surprise visit of a certain Cajun could change the lives of the X-men. What could have happened if our favorite thief came to the mansion before the events of X3 - AU. ROMY - Final Chapter up, Sequel soon to come!
1. Chapter 1: Atrocity

_**Disclaimer: X-men is owned by **__**Marvel Comics**__** and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So please don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway. ;)**_

_A/N: This is my first X-men fanfic (not my first fic in general). I wanted to put together a story of what could have happened if Remy LeBeau entered onto the scene before the events of X3: The Last Stand (yes, I know he's gonna be in Wolverine Origins – can't wait - but of course there won't be any ROMY there). I'll be introducing several other comic characters that weren't in the movies as well, and several plotlines from the comics. Their histories may be different and events might occur different than in the comics as I will be taking artistic license and converting them to the movie-verse, but nods to comic fans will __be found__ throughout the story. _

_Rated mainly for violence and language._

**Chapter 1: Atrocity**

_The first things he heard were the screams._

_They echoed through the air as he ran down the tunnel. Each scream was filled with raw agony and fear. The next thing he heard was the loud crack of gunshots._

_He growled to himself and pushed himself to run faster. As he got nearer, the gunshots became louder, and the screams fewer. He spun around a corner and immediately dove to the side to avoid a burst of fire from a weapon. As he tumbled back into a crouched position, he pulled a small metal staff out of his coat, and twisted it, causing it to telescope into a long staff._

_The staff lashed out, sending the assault rifle – an M16, he noted – flying from the man's hands, and then lashed back viciously to slam into the man's head, snapping it to the side and knocking the man out instantly. _

_He saw the gunner was dressed in some sort of ballistics vest, and armed to the teeth with various weapons. He dove past the body and brought his staff down on top of the next mercenary's head, and heard a loud, meaty crack before the man fell to the floor. _

_When he saw what was in front of the man his jaw clenched and his eyelids fluttered shut briefly in grief, and when they opened again, his eyes had begun to glow magenta. He sprang forward in a rage, sprinting toward the next pair of mercenaries, running past what he had seen: an elderly white-haired woman clutching four children to her – all five riddled with bullets._

_The next two went down nearly as quickly, but he had to dive out of the way when several more saw their fellow mercenaries fall and opened fire at him. He gripped his staff and vaulted himself above the spray of bullets – barely clearing the low ceiling – and landed between two mercenaries, immediately lashing out with his leg pistoning in a side kick into one, while slamming the end of his staff into the face of the other mercenary._

_He traded blows with the mercenary he had kicked, taking him out with a swift roundhouse kick. He turned to the other man, only to see him stumbling to the ground, his hands coming away from his mouth covered in blood and teeth._

_He saw more mercenaries further down the tunnel, and turned down a passage leading to a smaller tunnel. He only ran into one other man, standing over the body of a pretty young girl with hair streaked with pastel colors. He struck him from behind, snapping his neck with a blow from his staff. He stopped only to kneel next to the girl and close her eyes._

_He tightened his grip around his staff when he heard a familiar sadistic laugh echo down the tunnel. _

"_Zdravko." He growled to himself. The man who he had been hired to lead to these tunnels, which had once been a network of Cold War bomb shelters beneath Manhattan, and then forgotten by most. Only one accessible entrance still remained._

_He finally reached the end of the tunnel he was following, where it expanded into one of the many large chambers that had been designed as a military style living quarters. _

_He immediately spotted Zdravko in the room – not that he was that hard to miss, all 6'7" of him – taunting a young girl with a large knife, a sadistic grin on his face. He dwarfed the girl, the Bulgarian mercenary was an enormous man, not just in height but also in muscle – he had very likely once been a bodybuilder._

"_ZDRAVKO!" He shouted, drawing the man's attention away from the girl._

_Zdravko's head snapped up at the voice and his mad grin became even broader. "How nice of you to join me. Come to help us exterminate these mutant scum?"_

_He growled in anger, stalking toward the towering mercenary. "You sick _fils de pute_! If I'd known dis is what you were gon' do I'da killed you myself when I firs' met you."_

_The mercenary started laughing deeply. "Boy, you really are clueless. If you'd known who you were really workin' for, you'd have known we were lookin' for this group of muties to exterminate. He really did fool you into thinking we were heading in on a big heist through these tunnels to one of the banks above us, didn't he?"_

_He lunged at the mercenary, his staff whistling through the air. Zdravko blocked the blow with his forearm, and then in one move he grabbed the staff and used it to slam him into the wall._

"_Well, I must say that I am thankful for you leading us here. Why, there has to be at least a hundred of freaks, like this little whore, living down in these tunnels, cowering in fear under the eyes of their betters – humans like us. These muties are an infestation. A festering infection." Zdravko taunted, gesturing toward the young girl he had been tormenting. "Too bad for you that you're too late – we're just moppin' up the last few right now."_

_He picked himself up, brushing off his coat before looking coldly at Zdravko, and pulling a playing card from his trench coat pocket. Zdravko looked at him condescendingly, until he saw his eyes begin to glow brightly._

_Zdravko fumbled frantically for his gun, and he nearly laughed at the large man's panicked look. "Y-You're a freak too!"_

_He smiled coldly as the card in his hand began to glow the same color as his eyes. "Guess I wasn' de only one dat got fooled." He said as the card flew from his gloved hand and exploded in Zdravko's face, sending him staggering back, groping blindly at his eyes. Two more cards threw him into a wall and sent him into unconsciousness, but not before he managed to bring up his semi-automatic Walther pistol and fire blindly._

_He grunted as he felt several bullets slam into his body armor, and then hissed out a curse when he felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder. He glanced down and saw that a bullet had torn through the lighter, flexible ballistics suit between the chest and arm plates, which was there to allow him a great degree of movement. _

_He saw some blood in the wound, but the ballistics material had slowed the bullet greatly, leaving the close to half the bullet above the surface of his skin. He gritted his teeth and yanked the bullet out. He pushed down his pain and tore off a strip of cloth from the bottom of his trench coat and wrapped it tightly around his shoulder to try to stop the bleeding._

_He walked over to the shaking girl who was huddled on the floor with her arms thrown protectively over her head. He knelt next to her and gently pulled her arms away from her head. She flinched and looked up at him, realizing that he was not Zdravko. She looked at him with pleading, tear-filled brown eyes. "P-please m-mister, d-don't hurt me."_

_He smiled gently at her. "I ain' gonna hurt you _petite._ Did he hurt you at all?" He asked, looking down at her. She was young – no more than ten years old – and was a cute little girl, not marred even with several bony growths that protruded out of her forehead and cheekbones. He realized there were larger sharp and spiky bone protrusions growing along her arms and on her knees, as well as flat bones on her shoulders – almost like protective shoulder pads._

_She shook her head profusely, causing her hair, which held a purplish tinge, to whip around her face. "No, but I twisted my foot, and it hurts a lot."_

"_Okay, _petite_," he said, feeling her ankle for any obvious broken bones. "Don' t'ink it's broken." _

"_What's your name?" He asked her._

"_I-I'm Sarah." She said shyly._

"_Okay, Sarah, de name's Remy, an' I'm gonna get you outta here. You know if anyone else is alive?"_

_She began to sob after he asked that. She shook her head. "I-I don't know. Those men started killing ev'ryone a-an' Sally told me to run with her, an' we both ran an' went down diff'rent tunnels, an' that big man chased after me an' caught me."_

_Remy pulled her close, careful to not poke himself on the bones growing out of her arms. He gently rubbed the back of her head, and rocked her back and forth like his Tante had used to rock him when he was upset._

"_It'll be alright, _ma mignonne, _I won' let dem hurt you. Now come, we got to get outta here b'fore the rest come looking."_

_As he said that, a walkie-talkie on Zdravko's belt crackled to life. "Sir, we're almost done down here. I think we've got everyone. There may be one that got away – one of the men said he saw a blond girl running out of the tunnels, but his bullets bounced off of her, and she slipped away."_

_Sarah's sobs slowed, and she looked up at Remy. "That's Sally," she said._

_Remy nodded, and shrunk his staff down to its smallest size and placed it in his trench coat pocket. "I'm sure she'll be fine if she got away from dem. Alright _petite_, hold on t'me, and we'll get outta here. What say we leave a little present for dem?" _

_She nodded, although she looked confused as to what he meant, as she carefully wrapped her arms around his neck before he lifted her from the ground._

_He shifted her weight onto his left arm, so he could reach into his pocket and pull out several decks of playing cards. He held on to one and handed the other three to her. "Can you hold these for me for a minute, _petite_?"_

_She nodded and pulled one arm away from his neck to grab on to the packs of cards. She watched in wonder as the deck in his hand began to glow. He tossed the deck over his shoulder and sprinted down the tunnel. It hit Zdravko with a deafening boom, all but vaporizing his body._

_Sarah looked back at him, realizing the large man was likely now dead, but said nothing about that, as she felt strangely glad and relieved. Instead, when he took the remaining packs of cards from her, she looked up at his face. "You have very pretty eyes, Remy." She said when she noticed that his eyes were completely black with vibrant red pupils._

_Remy grinned down at her. "Dat ain' somethin' I hear a lot. Dey usually tell me I got de eyes of de devil."_

_She shook her head, smiling back up at him. "Well then they're dummies, 'cuz I like your eyes."_

"_Well den, I'll take your word for it, but dey aren' near as pretty as your eyes are." He said, setting her down for a moment. He gripped two of the packs of cards and hurled them down the tunnel at the ceiling. They exploded violently, causing large chunks of rubble to fall from the ceiling, and soon bury the passageway._

"_Well, now dey'll have t'work to get outta dis place." He said, picking her up again, and exiting out of the tunnels, leaving the third glowing deck of cards to blast open the entrance, hoping the noise and damage would bring the police to the site before the mercenaries dug their way out._

_Suddenly everything in his vision shifted, and he found himself lying on his back with the breath knocked out of him. All he saw was a bright light, and he could hear Sarah's voice dimly. "Remy! Remy! Remy!"…._

* * *

His eyes snapped open as he gasped for a breath, realizing he had just had another dream of what had happened over a week ago. He groaned when he realized Sarah had jumped on top of him while he was asleep, knocking the breath from him, and now she was sitting on his stomach, shaking his shoulder and calling his name.

He moved slightly, and reached up to rub the sleep from his eyes. "Alright, alright, _petite_, I'm awake. You can stop tryin' t'murder me."

Sarah giggled, and clambered off of his stomach, looking at him with a bright smile. "C'mon, sleepyhead. It's already almost noon, an' you said you'd make me some chicken an' jambalaya for lunch today."

Remy sighed to himself, and sat up in the bed with a large yawn. "I'll bet Henri put you up to dis, didn' he?"

She smiled innocently at him. "Oh, Uncle Henri said to wake you up, but he didn't say how I should do it."

Remy chuckled, and tousled her hair. "Alright Sarah, you go on to th'kitchen, an' I'll get dressed an' meet y'there in a few, 'kay?"

Sarah hopped up and dashed happily from the room, pausing at the door to say, "Just don't go back to sleep like you did last time, or I'll hafta hop on you again."

Remy watched her go with a smile, then got out of bed and began dressing. He was glad she was so full of energy and happiness after what had happened last week. She was a great example of the resiliency children were capable of. He grunted as he pulled on a shirt, feeling the stitches in his shoulder pull at his skin.

He'd gotten out of the city as quick as possible, and made his way to northern Louisiana where his brother Henri had a vacation house – he couldn't go to New Orleans (or even to the northern parts of Lake Pontchartrain) due to the events of several years ago, unless he wanted to end up dead. Henri had gotten him patched up, and had taken Sarah for a day to his Tante Mattie to look at her ankle. It ended up being nothing more than a painful sprain, and she was already running around the house on it the next day.

The aftermath of the event in the tunnels in New York had been all over the news for the last week. The media was labeling it "The Mutant Massacre". Police had arrived on the scene within fifteen minutes when residents in the area reported explosions and a fire that had started.

His exploding decks had done more damage than he thought they would, and ended up caving in a long portion of the entrance. It took two days for the city to dig out the tunnel, and would have taken longer if the mercenaries hadn't been digging from the opposite side.

The mercenaries that hadn't been under the collapse were quickly arrested once the bullet-ridden bodies of more than sixty mutants were found. The mercenaries refused to give any information on their employer, and only stated their hatred of mutants as reasoning for what they had done. The city of New York was quite pro-mutant, especially in their laws, so the mercenaries were all going to be charged with murder – something that might not be the case in a more anti-mutant city.

Many radical groups on both sides had latched on to this issue – mutant terrorist groups using it to gain more recruits, and fundamentalist anti-mutant religious groups were calling it a "sign" from God.

Remy shook his head of his thoughts, still feeling the enormous weight of guilt for being the one to lead the mercenaries to those tunnels. He left his room, and made his way to the kitchen, where Sarah sat impatiently at the table, talking to his brother, Henri.

Henri wasn't his biological brother, something obvious in their completely different appearances. Henri was in his thirties and his light brown hair was already thinning, and he already had a bald spot developing, and he had a large bushy moustache. He was taller and outweighed Remy by nearly seventy pounds, although most of that bulk was muscle. Remy was already a respectable 6'1", and was much more lithe, partly because much of his childhood had been spent malnourished on the streets before Jean-Luc, Henri's father, had found him and eventually adopted him.

Henri looked up with a large grin as Remy entered the kitchen. "Finally up? Y' know it's not even Saturday, an' here y' are sleepin' in 'till noon. Have a nice wakeup?"

Remy rolled his eyes and grumbled. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just you wait – I'll get Sarah t'kill **you **in your sleep an' we'll see how you like dat." He muttered as he walked over to the refrigerator to start getting out the ingredients he needed to make lunch.

Within minutes he had the chicken cooking, and a pot of water on the stove coming to a boil to cook the rice. He shuffled over to the table and sat down next to Sarah. He looked over to Henri who was reading a newspaper. "So what the news be?"

Henri looked up and lifted the paper so that he could see the front page. "Same ol' same ol'." He said, and Remy saw why he didn't expand on that in front of Sarah – on the front page was yet another story on the killings in New York. They had agreed not to bring it up in front of her, and to only talk bout it if she brought it up to them.

Remy nodded and then looked over to Sarah who was reading the comics section of the paper. He frowned and reached out to touch the sleeve of the shirt she was wearing. The bone growths on her arms were quite sharp, and they had torn up the sleeve of her shirt when she put it on.

"_Petite_, you got to be more careful when you put y'shirt on. Dat's the third one dis week you ripped." He said to her. He immediately regretted it when her bright expression dimmed and her eyes lowered down to her lap and she looked as if she was about to cry.

"Sorry Remy," she said quietly.

He scooted his chair closer and rubbed her back. "Sorry, Sarah, I ain' tryin' to be mean to you. I know you can't control dem. Jus' be a bit more careful when you slide your shirts on, 'kay?"

He felt even worse when he saw tears fall down her cheeks, and she jumped onto his lap and hugged him tightly. "I w-wish I could control them, Remy," she said as she sobbed into his shirt, "I'm tired of people staring at me an' saying mean things to me. My daddy hated me b'cause of them an' threw me out of the house, an' then Sally found me an' they let me stay with everyone else who looked different."

He hugged her tightly, ignoring the bones on her face poking sharply at his chest. She'd never really talked about how she had ended up in the tunnels until now. "I just want t'control them so I don't look like a freak anymore."

Remy pulled back and placed his hands on her shoulders. "You don' look like a freak, _petite_. You're a very pretty little girl, an' your bones don' change dat._ Comprends tu?_"

She nodded and sniffled once more and then wiped her eyes. She believed that _**he**_ thought she was pretty, but still couldn't believe it herself. She glanced up at him, his question in French reminding her something.

"Remy, can you teach me some more French today?" She asked him.

Remy smiled down at her. "Sure, _petite_." His face became troubled as he worked up his nerve to announce something he had decided. "But Henri'll have t' teach you after dat, 'cuz I'm leaving t'morrow…"

He was cut off when Sarah's head snapped up and he saw her lower lip trembling. "You're leaving? Why, Remy? Is it 'cuz of me? Are you coming back?" She asked in a rush.

"_Non_, it ain' 'cuz of you – well, it actually sorta is." He corrected himself, continuing on quickly. "I'm going t'visit a friend of mine. She works at a school for mutants, an' I wanna check it out an' see what its like. If I like it, an' it looks safe, I'll take you to go dere. De Professor dere might be able t'help you control your bones like you want to be able to."

"Really?" Sarah asked him, a smile now back on her face.

He nodded to her, and then Henri spoke up. "Is dat the femme y' helped out a year or two ago?"

Remy nodded. "Oui. She told me I can visit if'n I ever need any help. So I'll see how it is an' hopefully Sarah can go dere."

"How long will you be gone?" Sarah asked him.

"Maybe a week. Don' know yet. But I'll call y' ev'ry night an' let you know how I'm doing."

He lifted Sarah from his lap and set her back down on her chair so he could check on the food. Henri followed him and gripped his shoulder and whispered quietly to him. "Y' be careful, alright? Dey might be lookin' for y' if'n any of dem men talked to their lawyers 'bout y' an' 'bout what happened. If'n y' employer knows what happened, he'll be out f'blood."

Remy nodded grimly. "I know. I'll be careful. But…. if somet'ing does happen t'me, you take care of Sarah f'me, _d'accord_?"

"_Oui_. Y' just make sure dat don' happen." Henry replied.

* * *

Jubilation Lee – better known by all her friends as Jubilee – shook her head and looked over at her friend, Rogue, as another news report played over the television about the recent Mutant Massacre in New York. "I can't believe there are people out there that would do something like this just because we are mutants."

Rogue looked up from the homework she was working on for Ororo's class. "Ah know – it's sick. But it ain't really new – look at World War Two an' the Nazis, or after World War One with th'Armenian genocide. There's just…."

She trailed off and perked up from her place on the couch. "Did ya hear that?" She asked, listening intently.

Jubilee shook her head and glanced at the television, assuming a news story had caught Rogue's attention, but it had gone to a commercial break.

Rogue set her books on the couch beside her and jumped to her feet. "Logan's back – Ah heard his motorcycle." She said, and sprinted out of the room.

Logan, also known as Wolverine, shut down his motorcycle and opened the door to the garage. He was nearly thrown off balance when the door was opened from the inside. He looked up and saw Rogue standing there in the doorway, and she greeted him with a hug.

"Logan! You're back! Are you planning t'stay here for a while?"

He stepped inside and shrugged. "Not plannin' on leavin' anytime soon. I did what I needed to do. Getting over… what happened at Alkali."

He walked next to her on her way to the kitchen. "So, how are you an' Drake?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

Rogue frowned slightly. "Ah don't know, Logan. He's been…. distant. Ever since Ah kissed him at his parent's house and started absorbin' him, he's been afraid ta even touch me with mah gloves on. Not that Ah blame him," she said, as she lowered her head.

"Don't worry Rogue, he's prob'ly just a little spooked. I'm sure he'll come around – at least he will if he doesn't want to lose you."

"That's just it, Ah think he might have a crush on Kitty. Ah've seen him flirtin' with her a few times, an' Ah know she likes him. Ah'm just afraid he wants a girl he c'n touch without worryin' about her suckin' the life outta him, and he's gonna leave me."

Logan threw an arm over her shoulder. "Well he'd be a fool t'toss ya away like that, an' I don't think he's that dumb. If he does then ya deserve better than him." Rogue smiled gratefully at him, but didn't seem too assured.

"Now, I'm gonna cook up somethin' to eat. You want anything?" Logan asked her.

"Nah. Thanks, but Ah already ate 'bout an hour ago with Jubes. Ah've gotta get back an' finish up mah homework for t'morrow, or Ororo'll have mah head."

Logan grinned slightly. "Oh, I don't doubt that. I'll see ya later. Maybe we can work on some more exercises in the Danger Room tomorrow."

Rogue nodded happily over her shoulder to him. He'd been teaching her a lot of basic self defense before he had left to clear his head, so she'd be able to defend herself - something she'd been wanting because of the limits of her powers. "Sure. Ah'll see ya after mah classes t'morrow."

Logan looked after her fondly. She'd made a connection with him from the first time he'd seen her back in Canada, and he realized that he had begun to think of her as a daughter. He shook his head. '_Iceboy better not hurt her, or he'll be dealing with me'. _He thought to himself.

* * *

**_Ending Notes: Hope you liked the chapter. I'll probably have an update schedule of about one chapter every two weeks or so, maybe more like three depending on my current work and school loads._**

**_Now, I don't speak French, so I am relying on internet translators (and a Cajun-English "dictionary" I found on the web)._**

_EDIT: Thanks a bunch to Certh for the French pointers._

_Some of the words from the chapter translated:_

_petite – little one (term of endearment)_

_ma mignonne – sweetie (literally - my sweet)_

_Comprends tu? – Do you understand?_

_D'accord? – Okay?_

_Non – No_

_fils de pute – Son of a Bitch_

_Please, Read and Review._


	2. Chapter 2: Arrival

_**Disclaimer: X-men is owned by **__**Marvel Comics**__** and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So please don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway. ;)**_

_**A/N: Slightly early release because I had a bit more time to write this week. Remy comes to the Mansion this chap. Please, Read and Review.**_

**Chapter 2: Arrival**

Logan tore his adamantium claws through the chest of a soldier, and crouched under the fire of another, before springing out of his crouch into a leap at that man, first slicing the barrel off his gun, and then stabbing the soldier in the chest.

He panted lightly and then grinned as ten more soldiers ran into the room with their guns raised. He leapt at the nearest ones with his metal claws raised for killing blows, when suddenly they fizzled out of existence.

Logan growled with frustration and retracted his claws back into his knuckles, the skin they had sliced open to burst forth closing up and healing in seconds due to his healing factor.

He stalked out of the Danger Room, and was met by Ororo, a regal young black woman with shockingly white hair – known by many at Xavier's school as Storm – who had shut down his Danger Room simulation. "What'd ya do that for, 'Ro? I was just gettin' started with that sim."

Ororo smiled at him apologetically. "Sorry, Logan. The professor needs my help for the next hour or so, and I was hoping you could fill in for me for my Physical Education class with the younger kids."

"Why can't Scott do it? Or the elf?" Logan asked.

"Scott… he's in one of his moods again. And Kurt is in New York City meeting with someone for the Professor. Please, Logan, just an hour. You know all the younger kids love it when you teach them."

He sighed. This was the third class this week he'd had to substitute while Scott Summers – known as Cyclops – grieved in his room. He'd taken the death of Jean Grey, who he had been in a long-term relationship with, quite hard. It had been nearly as hard for Logan who had loved Jean as well, but where Logan coped physical activity – including the fighting session he had been working on – Scott coped by moping around in his room.

"Alright, 'Ro, but just this one class."

Ororo smiled gratefully. "Thanks Logan. The kids are waiting by the door to the grounds."

Logan grabbed a towel from one of the locker rooms by the Danger Room to wipe off the small amount of sweat he had worked up in the session. He walked swiftly up the stairs to the ground floor level.

Ororo's class of younger kids consisted of young mutants between the ages of around 8 years old and 14 years old. As a result of the wait, they were already teeming with energy.

By the time he entered the main hall, several were already in the process of getting into trouble. "Rahne, change back and stop running around the mansion with Marie – you're going to end up breaking something or getting claw marks in the floors." He said to a small wolf, who quickly morphed back into a red-headed teen who had been chasing around her friend who had tiger-like features complete with a tail.

He turned quickly to see a blond-haired teen holding a glowing orb in her hand. "Tabitha, don't even think about blowing that up in here, or you'll have ten laps around the grounds."

Once they had calmed down, the group of children crowded around him with excited expressions on their faces. Besides the three that he had scolded, there were twelve more, each with their own unique powers that they had come to Xavier's Academy for Gifted Youngsters to learn to control.

The newest addition to Ororo's class was a young blond haired girl who Kurt – known by many as Nightcrawler – had found with the direction of Xavier after the Massacre. Her name was Sally Blevins, and she had apparently escaped the killing of the mutant community in the Tunnels.

Xavier had been counseling her over the past few days, but she was still just as quiet and un-talkative as she had been when she arrived – something Xavier believed was due to what she had witnessed. She had escaped only because her mutant power, the ability to create a force-field to envelop her entire body, had protected her from the mercenaries.

"Alright you little runts, Storm wants me ta get some exercise outta you. So, how about some pushups and then a few laps around the yard?" He asked them, resulting in load groans from each student.

"No? Well then, how 'bout we play some basketball?" He asked, and was answered by a chorus of cheers from the students."

* * *

Logan sighed with relief as the last of the students filed into the door of the mansion. They had played several games, including one that allowed the use of their powers, something that they had begged for the first few games.

Logan made a mental note that he needed to get some new basketballs to replace the ones that had been inevitably blown up, ripped up, and launched into the woods surrounding the mansion during that game. He was glad to see that the last game had tired out even the most energetic of the group.

Ororo was waiting outside at the door as he let the students enter. "Hey, Logan, how was the class? Did they behave themselves?" She asked as the students went straight to the kitchen to get something to drink.

"Went fine. They shouldn' be little balls of energy for the rest of the day. Took a while for them to behave, though, an' they destroyed a few basketballs."

Ororo smiled gratefully at him. "Well, thanks for taking over for me."

Logan shrugged, but she saw a hint of a smile on his face. "Sure thing, 'Ro. I'm fine with the little ones. Just don't try t'get me for the teen classes – too much drama."

Ororo grinned. "I'll remember that when I need your help again. I talked to Charles, and he is going to look into hiring someone to fill in for classes. He thinks Scott might be like this for a long time – he's really having trouble dealing. But anyway – how was Sally?"

Logan lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "She did pretty good actually. Seems like she an' Rahne are startin' to become friends. She-"

He cut off in mid-sentence and turned his head to the side and sniffed the air. Ororo jumped in surprise as the adamantium coated claws of his right hand sprang out.

He looked at her with an intense expression. "We have any new visitors here today?"

Ororo shook her head. "No, not that I know of. Is someone…?"

Logan nodded once. "Someone's on the grounds an' they got past the security systems without anyone seein' 'em."

He turned to her. "Get the kids someplace safe - this guy is upstairs and then get up there. I'll tell Charles while I head up to see to our little visitor."

She hurried to follow the children and announced that they were going to skip their next class and were to follow her to the garage. '_Good choice'_, Logan thought as he made his way toward the stairs that led from the ground floor to the first floor – the dormitories were on the opposite side of the mansion from where their intruder was, and there was easy access to the escape tunnels in case things got too rowdy.

Logan pulled his communicator from his pocket and clicked it on. "Hey Charles, we got an intruder somewhere on the grounds. Can ya get me any read on this guy?_'_" He said as he brought the communicator up to his mouth.

Charles' voice echoed over the speaker moments later. _"_Logan. I can get very little on our visitor – he seems to have some sort of mental shield or energy disruption up around his mind, and it dampened his thoughts enough that I never sensed him entering the mansion - there is no doubt he is a mutant. He's somewhere on the third floor."

Logan growled and said, "I'll take care of it," before he started up the stairs.

* * *

Rogue strode angrily along the third floor corridor toward her room. She'd just stormed away from Bobby after they'd had a fight. She'd finally talked him into spending some time alone with her out on the grounds – they hadn't spent much time together the last few weeks and despite the pep talk from Logan, she felt she was drifting even further from him.

As they were walking toward the door to the grounds, Kitty walked past them and into the kitchen. Bobby then remembered he had been waiting for her to get out of class to ask her for some help with homework. Kitty was a veritable computer whiz, so most in their computer class inevitably came to her for help.

The spat that followed ended with Rogue leaving. It still echoed through her mind.

_"Some boyfriend," she said angrily, "ya'd rather spend time with other girls than with ya own girlfriend."_

_That stopped Bobby cold and he was slow in trying to follow after her as she walked away. She saw his movement from the corner of her eye and spun around and waved her hand to silence him. "Whatevah, Bobby, jus' leave me alone an' go "study" with Kitty," she said sarcastically._

_"Fine! I will!" He said and whirled around toward the kitchen doorway._

Rogue felt a tear trickle run down her face and she angrily swiped it away wither her gloved hand.

Her troubled thoughts were interrupted as she passed the door to Storm's room and heard the crashing sound of glass breaking, and a low muffled curse. She knew Storm was not in there as she'd passed her on the main level after the fight. Her heart skipped a beat when she realized it had been a male's voice.

Her mind whirled through what she should do. Her body settled on action, and before she realized it she had removed her gloves and moved toward the door. _'If it isn't anyone I know I'll drain him unconscious and get the Professor,'_ she thought. _'I'd never hear the end of it if I went running for help – Bobby'd get proven right that I'm nothing but a liability with my power'._

She threw the door open. At the other end of the room there was a dark haired young man. The back of his trench coat was still hanging over the edge of the open window that he had climbed through, and he was kneeling next to a vase that lay shattered on the floor.

His head snapped up toward the door as she entered, and his surprise was obvious even with his eyes obscured by a dark pair of sunglasses.

"What th' hell are ya doin' in here?" Rogue demanded, letting her leftover anger at Bobby fill her voice.

He set down the shards he had been gathering and stood up. "_Bonjour, jolie femme_," he said in smooth French. "I'm jus' here t'visit a friend."

"How'd ya get past the security system?"

The man grinned and his eyebrows shot up over the rims of his sunglasses. "Security system? Dat's what dat t'ing was? _Mon Dieu_, I cracked dat wit' my eyes closed."

She clenched her fists, and the man raised his hands. "Whoa dere, I don' wanna fight wit' you, petit. I'm jus' here f'some help." He said.

He shifted one foot back toward the window, and accidentally stepped on a piece of the broken vase, which forced him to jerk his body forward to catch his balance.

The only thing Rogue saw was that it looked like he was going to attack her, so she struck out first. She lashed her right leg out at him in a low kick, which he managed to block with the hand he had thrown forward to keep his balance. He raised his hands again and was about to say something before her fist slammed into his stomach.

That had been one of the first things Logan had taught her – "_Your opponent will be a lot more focused on the pain or getting his breath back if ya hit 'em in a vulnerable place. Even better if ya can get to the family jewels_".

As the young man doubled over and grunted in pain, she followed Logan's advice by continuing through to bring her knee to his groin, but he stumbled backward and her knee hit his forearm. Then he straightened and turned two of her kicks aside with quick hand blocks.

Rogue hid a grimace at the pain in her hand after the punch. '_Either he's got some freakin' hard abs or he's wearing some sort of body armor_,' she thought.

She then feinted with a punch and snapped her foot out to sweep his legs from under him. He landed on his back with a grunt and she leapt onto him and reached out and placed her hand on his stubbled cheek.

Through his daze after his head smacked against the ground, Gambit felt a pull in his body and felt his energy begin to drain out of him through the girl's hand. His hands came up and he shoved her away from him, and he felt exhaustion rush over him as her hand broke contact with him.

He gritted his teeth in pain as he pushed himself off the ground. He saw her stagger back in a crouch and then stand up. Her hands had begun to glow a bright magenta and he realized she was looking at them in horror. She looked up at him with red-on-black eyes expressing terror as she felt energy surge through her in massive waves. "What is this?" She shrieked. "I-I can't control it!"

Another wave of energy passed through her mind, and she stumbled to the side, catching hold of the lampshade of Storm's table lamp. It flared brightly, and Gambit's eyes widened as she caught her balance and let go.

"Get down!" He shouted as he rammed into her, tackling her onto Storm's bed. The lamp exploded, and the pressure wave was strong enough to slam air into them in a violent burst as pieces of the lamp and the table below it pattered down on Gambit's back.

He looked down into the terrified girl's face. "Gimme your hands, _femme_!" He urged her as he groped for her wrists. "Let me take de charge from you – I c'n control it for you."

She frantically shoved her hands into his, fear still in her eyes. She watched in amazement as he grasped her hands and slowly the magenta glow began to fade from her own and into his own. He pulled his hands away and she saw the muscles in his jaw working as the aura began to fade from his own hands.

He let out his breath and relaxed as it disappeared. He managed a slight grin down at the girl he was currently straddling. "_Dieu_, y'should be careful takin' powers from people y'don't know."

The adrenaline rush in Rogue began to die out and she shakily smiled back. "Thanks."

"Y'welcome. An' really I was tellin' de truth b'fore, I'm jus' here t'visit Stormy-"

His sentence was interrupted as the door that had been pushed close by the blast of air flew off its hinges and a tall man with a stocky build barreled through.

"Fuck." Gambit said when the man's face twisted in anger. He knew how this must look to the man – him straddling this young woman, pressing her to the bed.

He sprang off her to his feet and had his bo staff out and extended just in time as the man charged him with an enraged yell.

Logan had been near the second flight of stairs when his heightened hearing picked up Rogue's scream and the resulting explosion, and he dashed the rest of the way up realizing she had come into contact with the intruder.

His claws sprang from his fist as he charged the man who had pinned Rogue underneath him, and he slashed out at the man's bo staff which had seemingly appeared out of nowhere hoping that slicing it into pieces would make him think twice about fighting him.

Logan was caught off balance, however, when rather than slicing through it like butter, his claws merely bounced off the staff with a loud clang.

"Logan, stop! He wasn't doin' what you were thinkin'!" Rogue said – things were happening so quickly, both men moved almost too fast for her to follow. She knew then for sure that the mysterious mutant had merely been defending himself against her and had gone quite easy on her – had he moved like this before she wouldn't have lasted more than a few seconds.

"What the hell?" He said, not hearing Rogue in his rage and surprise – adamantium, which his claws (and entire skeleton) were coated with, was the hardest and strongest substance known to man, and his claws had always cut through any material he had come across.

Logan's claws slid along the staff and sliced through the metal footboard of Storm's bed. '_Whole damn staff must be made of adamantium_,' he thought to himself, '_how the hell did he get something like that_?' he wondered.

He began striking faster, managing to get in a solid punch to the side of the man's head, retracting his claws before it connected – he wanted to take this creep alive – and finally grabbed the staff itself and strained his muscles to use the staff to toss the man into the wall with a heavy thud.

"Logan, stop!" Rogue yelled as she pushed herself up from the bed, but he still didn't hear her as he extended his claws – two on either side of his neck and the middle slowly until its tip touched the man's throat.

The man smiled grimly at him. "I wouldn' be doin' dat, _homme_. If you hurt me, dere'll be trouble," he said, nodding downward slightly.

Logan looked down and saw that the man's staff was touching the floor, and that a purplish glow was radiating from the tip and along the floor, causing it too to glow.

"Y'see, dis whole floor is charged, an' if I die, dere's gonna be one big messy boom."

All three heard a gasp from the doorway and Logan looked out of the corner of his eye and saw Ororo entering the doorway of her room with Xavier outside behind her in his wheelchair.

She stepped further in. "Logan, let him go – he's a friend of mine." She looked over to the other man. "And Gambit, behave yourself!"

Logan hesitated until Rogue said, "Please Logan, he wasn't hurtin' me."

Logan lowered his hand from the man's neck and stepped back, slowly retracting his claws. He watched as the glow on the floor seemed to dim and then pull back and up through the tip of the staff and then to the man's fingers.

The man, Gambit, shrugged. "Sorry, Stormy," he said.

"If you'd just learn to use the front door like everyone else, you wouldn't have had that problem." She said sternly, although a grin broke out on her face, ruining the effect.

"Well, I thought I'd avoid de attention of a welcomin' committee if I didn' use de front door. Guess I learned my lesson from de _un_welcomin' committee here," he said with a lopsided grin, nodding at Logan and Rogue.

Ororo laughed and closed the distance between them while he still stood leaning against the wall. "It's great to see you again, Remy." She whispered as she pulled him into a tight hug.

She grew concerned when he weakly returned it, and a soft groan of pain escaped his lips when she squeezed him tighter. She looked up into his face and saw that his mouth was set in a firm line, and she quickly realized that his breath was coming in ragged, shallow gasps.

She pulled him away from the wall, and he leaned heavily on her shoulder. "Gambit, what's wrong?" She asked him worriedly. "Are you hurt?"

He nodded tightly and staggered forward a bit, putting more weight on Ororo's shoulders. "Hmm, yeah, Stormy. I don' feel too good here. Dat chargin' an' fightin' with M'sieur Claws an' _une jolie_ dere took a lot outta me. I t'ink I'm gonna take a rest…" He murmured, before promptly passing out.

Logan moved forward quickly to help Ororo catch his weight, and helped her lift him over to her bed. Now that he wasn't focused on the man being an intruder, he caught another distinct scent from him.

He looked to Storm. "Think he's bleedin' somewhere, 'Ro. I can smell it." He said. "Also hasn't bathed for a few weeks from the smell of him. Sure he's a friend of yours?" He asked her jokingly when he saw the worry fill her eyes when he mentioned Gambit was bleeding, trying to get her mind off of it.

A weak smile flitted across her face. "Yes, Logan, he's my friend. We need to get him down to the Med lab and see how badly he's hurt. Help me lift him."

* * *

With Logan's help, Ororo moved Gambit down to the first sublevel and into the Med lab. Rogue followed the two close behind and Xavier wheeled his chair along behind them. Rogue wanted to help and felt terrible that she'd attacked Storm's friend apparently enough to injure him if Logan had smelled that he was bleeding, but she didn't know how to help other than carry Gambit's bo staff which she had picked up after he passed out.

A black-haired female in her early thirties, with a light olive complexion and brown eyes, looked up, startled by both their sudden entrance, and by the unconscious man they were carrying.

They set him down on an examination table as she stood up and rushed over. Ororo looked to the woman who she had befriended in her short time at the school. "Annie, this is a friend of mine. We think he's been injured and he just passed out a few minutes ago, and Logan thinks he smelled blood on him."

Annie nodded, looking down at the unfamiliar young man. Annie Ghazikhanian had been an ER nurse before she had been hired just shortly after Jean had been killed.

Her son, Carter Ghazikhanian, was a mutant with telekinetic powers, and she had brought him to Xavier to get him help controlling his powers. Xavier learned she was a nurse, and they had come to an agreement: Carter would receive free schooling if she worked at the school at least part time as a nurse for both the children and the team. She had quickly decided to stay at the school full time, despite her initial fear of mutants, which was quickly overpowered by her love for her son and her experience with the denizens of the mansion in her first few weeks. Xavier had given her one of the vacant rooms so she could live with her son.

Rogue set down the staff and helped Annie and Ororo remove Gambit's trench coat. Logan whistled loudly when he saw the body armor he was wearing. "Damn. That looks like some sorta custom made Modular Tactical Vest – damn tough stuff – military grade armor. Looks lighter than standard issue. Kid musta paid through the nose to get this."

His eyebrows hiked even higher and he pointed to a hole in the armor near the abdomen, which was slowly filling with blood. "Well double-damn! Hadta have been a top-quality sniper rifle he got shot by to be able t'penetrate it like this. Someone really wanted to take this kid out." He said to Ororo as she began running her hands along the armor and expertly undoing the hidden catches to get the armor off.

Annie cut the shirt that he was wearing underneath his armor down the center and along the sleeves to remove it easily without disturbing her patient. Storm pointed out another gunshot wound to his left shoulder, and what looked like another older wound that had been stitched up and was now nearly healed.

'_That could have happened any time in the past week or so_.' Storm thought to herself, remembering Remy's amazingly fast healing abilities that were linked somehow with his mutant powers. '_Not anything close to Logan_,' she thought, '_but absolutely remarkable for any other mutant_.'

Ororo shook her head. "What've you gotten yourself into this time, little brother?" She whispered softly as Annie inspected the wounds.

Annie looked up. "He patched himself up pretty well – used some QuikClot on his abdomen wound to stop the bleeding and tried stitching his shoulder wound. They both reopened recently – was he participating in any sort of strenuous physical activity today?"

Rogue looked down guiltily. "Ah thought he was a burglar an' thought he was gonna attack me an' Ah fought back." She saw the blood pooling even more – _'I went and punched him right there when I hit him in the stomach, and landed with my knees there when I went to absorb his powers,'_ she thought, feeling sick to her stomach as she realized she had been unknowingly striking him in an already injured part of his body where it would hurt the most.

Annie nodded, and looked to Ororo. "The bullets do not seem to have hit anything vital, and it looks like he removed the one in his shoulder. I'll have to remove the one here by his lower ribs, which could be a little tricky to get out."

Xavier, who had been silent until then, furrowed his brow for a moment and then looked up at Annie. "I've asked Miss Pryde to come down here. I've been working with her to fine-tune her powers, and I believe she has become skilled enough to be able to remove this bullet from our young friend here and keep the trauma to a minimum."

Annie smiled. "That would be excellent Charles. I'll see what I can do about making sure this shoulder wound is cleaned out while we wait."

Ororo stepped aside to allow her room to work, and walked to the other side of her friend. She brushed some hair from his face and stroked his forehead. His face looked tired, and yet peaceful at the same time. She saw that he had several days' growth of stubble on his face, accenting the roguish good looks that she had seen attract many a young woman – including herself for a short time.

Rogue watched Ororo brush the hair out of her friend's face, and realized Ororo cared deeply about him, but it seemed like a maternal or sisterly care rather than the care of a lover – something Rogue had wondered when Storm had first greeted Gambit.

'_Not that I would blame her,'_ Rogue thought, as her eyes traveled over Gambit's well-toned body, blushing slightly, '_he's hot, in a frazzled, scruffy sort of way._'

Ororo walked over to where Rogue had set Gambit's Bo staff, and expertly collapsed the staff. She had talked him into teaching her how to use it, or at least some basic moves and blocks with it. She lifted his discarded trench coat to slide the staff into the inner pocket he kept it in, and a slip of paper fluttered out onto the floor from one of his pockets.

She knelt to pick it up and looked at it. It was a reminder scrawled in Remy's handwriting that read: "_**Call H. and S. tomorrow.**_"

She guessed that "H." may have stood for his brother Henri, who she had met once, but she had no clue what the "S." could stand for except for "Stormy", a nickname he had given her and teased her mercilessly with in the weeks she had spent with him.

She folded the paper and slipped it back into its pocket, and in the process felt a large bundle of papers which she pulled out curiously. She suppressed a gasp and quickly shoved them back into the pocket – it had been a large bundle of hundred dollar bills.

'_You've got a lot of explaining to do, Remy_.' She thought to herself, wondering what job he had pulled off that had left him with a large wad of money and two fresh bullet wounds.

* * *

Katherine "Kitty" Pryde grumbled darkly to herself. She had been giving some homework help to Bobby Drake – also known as Iceman – when Professor Xavier had telepathically asked her to come to the Med lab.

The "help" involved a little bit of helping him with homework, and a large amount of flirting between the two. She had had a large crush on Bobby for over a year now, and she could tell that he liked her. She felt slightly guilty, as he was already dating one of her friends, Rogue, but she had seen their relationship deteriorate over the weeks after Jean's death, and she had noticed the growing amount of attention Bobby was now paying her. She wasn't entirely sure he even realized the shift in his attitude and behavior, and he seemed to still be quite overprotective of Rogue, even with the souring of their relationship.

She entered the Med lab, and saw Professor Xavier waiting for her. "Hello, Kitty," he greeted her with a smile, "We could use your help with something that your abilities may be of great use for us," he said, turning his wheelchair and moving toward the exam table.

Kitty saw Ororo, Logan, and the new nurse, Annie, standing beside an unconscious young man, examining a wound in the lower left portion of his abdomen. Kitty felt the pang of guilt return when she spotted Rogue standing near Annie, watching what she was doing.

Xavier wheeled around to that side and gestured for Kitty to join them. "Our young friend here has been wounded by a bullet, and I would like you to attempt to phase it out of him. I know we haven't worked intensively on phasing through organic substances yet, but I do not believe this will be very difficult for you."

Xavier had been working with her, helping her to learn to control her powers in more ways than just phasing herself through objects. They had worked first on her phasing objects that she held, and worked their way up to phasing through machines and learning to "feel" or "sense" the differences in composition of the different parts, and then on extending her phase field to that part only.

Kitty bit her lip nervously, and felt reassuring telepathic thoughts coming from Xavier. "Okay, I'll give it a try," she said, looking down at the young man. "Who is he?" She asked curiously.

"He's a good friend of mine. Do you remember a few years ago when I was gone for about five months?" Ororo asked. At Kitty's nod, she continued. "He helped me out of a rough place back then, and we became close friends."

Kitty nodded, and looked down at the man in front of her. '_Damn_,' she thought, '_this guy is cute. He can't even be that much older than me_.' She reached out to place her hand on the young man's abdomen near the wound.

Rogue looked on, and watched Kitty's bare hands move along Gambit's muscled abdomen. She felt a flash of jealousy, and she realized she wasn't entirely sure if it was from the fact that Kitty was able to touch people without worrying about sucking the life out of them, or if it was the fact that she was touching _this_ person in particular. She shook her head to clear it, trying not to remember the strange, animal attraction she had felt when he had straddled her stomach, her hands gripped in his, and his lopsided grin he'd flashed her.

Kitty took a deep breath and closed her eyes as her hand slowly began to phase through his body. Her brow furrowed as her hand went lower, and she bit her lip in concentration when she "felt" the metal of the bullet, and began to extend her field around it, careful to not phase out any of Ororo's friends' internal organs with it.

She lowered her hand down and past the table and solidified her hand and the bullet, letting out a deep sigh of relief as she dropped the bullet onto a tray near the exam table.

She ran her hand through several more times to pick out any small bits of shrapnel she had missed, until she could no longer sense any metal.

"I think that's all, Professor." She said.

"Thank you very much for your assistance, Kitty. I think that is all we needed. You may return to your studies now if you wish."

"Alright, Professor. Is he gonna be okay now?"

"He should be okay once we patch him up," Ororo said as she flashed Kitty a relieved smile and give her a grateful squeeze on the shoulder. "Thanks for helping him – he means a lot to me."

Kitty returned the smile. "You're welcome, Ororo. See you in class tomorrow." She said as she turned and left the lab.

Annie moved to the spot Kitty had vacated, and swabbed the wound with a Betadine disinfectant to kill any bacteria that had been introduced since the wound had re-opened. She looked up briefly at Rogue. "Hey, could you stitch that shoulder wound for me while I take care of this?"

Rogue looked at her uncertainly. "Really?" She asked. Rogue had become interested in medicine after the events at Alkali Lake – after Jean was gone – and had quickly developed a friendship with Annie, who had taken her under her wing and started teaching her basic medical care.

Annie smiled reassuringly at her. "Yes Rogue, you did a great job last week when Jamie cut his arm up messing around in the mansion."

Rogue smiled back hesitantly, and nodded her head. She shuffled through a drawer near the examination table until she found a small package containing a suture thread. She ripped open the cardboard backing and removed the atraumatic needle – an eyeless needle with the surgical thread already attached to cause less damage to tissues because of a slimmer body without the eye, and to save the person using it the time of threading the needle.

Annie had already disinfected the wound, so Rogue only had to suture it shut. She place her gloved fingers of one hand on the skin on either side of Gambit's wound and pressured the edges of the wound closer together as she pushed the needle through one edge and across to the other and pulled it tight. She carefully repeated the procedure to create a line of three stitches along the wound, using the common simple interrupted stitch method.

As she tied off the last knot, leaving it to the right of the wound so it didn't get into the wound as it healed, she snipped off the remaining suture thread and carried it and the packaging to the trash. She wrinkled her nose when she saw the fingers of her white gloves had been stained with his blood from holding the wound closed and tying the knots. _'Oh well, there goes another pair of gloves_,' she thought to herself.

Professor Charles Xavier pulled Rogue to the side once she had finished while Annie finished with Gambit's abdominal wound. He asked her what had occurred in Storm's room, and she explained what had happened including the loss of control over the powers she had absorbed.

"Hmm… Ororo, exactly what abilities does our young friend have?" Xavier said as Rogue finished her retelling.

"I'm not sure exactly what it is, but he can charge anything he touches with some sort of energy and make it explode when he lets go."

Xavier nodded thoughtfully. "Rogue, I think this may actually be helpful – I think that it is not just your own power that you struggle to control, but any touch-based power like Gambit's. We've been focusing so much on control of power in general, but not your touch in particular. I'll have to think on this before our next training session on Friday."

As Rogue looked back to the examination table, she saw that Annie had finished patching up Gambit's wound and had taped gauze down over it to prevent infection. Annie had just set up an IV and taped it down on his arm, and she was hooking up a bag of saline solution to provide fluids to him that he had lost through bleeding since he had been injured.

Annie turned to the four who stood back observing her. "Okay, that's all we can do now besides wait for him to wake up."

"Can I stay in here by him?" Storm asked.

Annie smiled. "Of course, Ororo," she said, and then turned to Rogue, "Rogue, why don't you come by later tonight and I'll show you how to change a saline drip." Her eyes twinkled mischievously. "That way I can get you to remember to do it for me."

"Alright, Annie, Ah'll see ya after dinner." Rogue replied.

Professor Xavier turned his wheelchair in the direction of the door. "Come now," he said to Rogue and Logan. "Let's leave Ororo some private time with her friend."

Rogue followed Logan and the Professor from the room, casting one last glance back at Ororo sitting next to her unconscious friend's side.

Rogue exited the room and made her way slowly up the stairs to the main level of the mansion and walked across the building to the staircase that led to the upper floors. She noticed several curious young teens peeking out of the kitchen at her, and she rolled her eyes in exasperation – Kitty had already been motoring her mouth about Storm's mysterious friend.

Rogue was almost to the stairs, in the process of tugging off one of her stained gloves, when Bobby saw her. "Rogue! Kitty says there's some unconscious dude down in the medlab, and she said you were down there – Rogue! Are you all right? Are you hurt? You're bleeding!" Bobby said when he saw her bloodstained gloves.

"Ah'm fine Bobby," Rogue said, "Ah'm not bleedin'. Ah helped patch up Storm's friend."

"Rogue, about before, I'm-" Bobby managed to say before Rogue cut him off.

"Please Bobby, why don't ya just leave me alone. Ah'm really not in the mood to talk to ya right now. Ah don't wanna get into another fight." Rogue said with a dismissive wave of her hand at Bobby. She saw Bobby flinch back slightly and she realized she had gestured with her ungloved hand. She felt hurt well up inside – she knew he probably didn't even realize it and it was an unconscious flinch, but it still hurt her when she was reminded that even her boyfriend couldn't touch her and in fact appeared to be afraid of even coming close to touching her.

Rogue turned away from him and strode quickly up the stairs, ignoring Bobby's protestations that carried up the stairs after her. She walked toward her own room for the second time that day, this time the well-ordered hallway was marred by the door to Storm's room which was open and hanging on only the bottom hinge as the other had been ripped away from the door frame when Logan burst into the room.

Rogue turned the doorknob of the door to her own room and pushed the door open. She moved over to her bed and sat heavily on it, and pulled her glove on her other hand off one finger at a time and then tossed both into the trash can that sat on the other side of the room next to her desk.

She tossed herself backwards, her head onto her pillow, and closed her eyes. Then she felt the tears begin to leak from under her eyelids and down her cheeks. She felt emotionally numb after her fight with Bobby and his reaction to her at the base of the stairs, and physically drained from her short, intense fight with Storm's friend.

As she felt sleep overtake her she wondered why, not for the first time, she'd ended up with one of the worst mutant abilities possible – one that prevented her from something that was a very human need and desire: physical contact.

* * *

_**A/N**_: Well, hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'm trying to keep pretty true to the movie personalities of everyone, so I hope I'm doing pretty decent. A little nod to the comic book fans with some of the kids in Logan's class, and with Annie – you'll recognize the characters if you've read them (Annie and some of the kids will be developed soon in the case of Annie and later on in the story in the case of some of the kids/teens).

Thanks for all of the reviews, everyone, I really appreciate the feedback.


	3. Chapter 3: Awake

_**Disclaimer: X-men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So please don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway. ;)**_

_Please, Read and Review. Hope you enjoy this Chap! Longest Chapter yet (without authors notes) at over 7600 words. This is probably as long as they'll get and they'll probably range between the length of this one and the first chapter – any longer and I think it tends to get hard to read and keep focused (at least in my experience)_

**Chapter 3: Awake**

* * *

Robert "Bobby" Drake sat down with an aggravated sigh on a couch in the living room next to his friend Piotr Rasputin, a tall, muscled young man who had the ability to change his entire body into organic steel. Peter had just recently turned twenty, making him a few years older than many of the younger residents of the manor including Bobby himself. Piotr had been raised since the age of one in the United States when his parents moved there from their homeland of Russia.

Piotr looked up from the book he was reading and glanced over at his friend. "What's up, Bobby?" He asked.

"Rogue." Bobby said. "She keeps running off to the infirmary to help that Annie chick take care of that new guy instead of spending time with me. And she's the one who started a fight when I wanted to spend some time with Kitty and get some help with homework from her!" He said, throwing up his hands in exasperation. "I don't get her and her sudden interest in nursing either – she's never been interested in this before and she knows she'd be limited from actual medicine by her powers, so why now that this new nurse comes in?" Bobby clenched his fists in frustration and ice crystals began to appear on the skin of his hands before he realized he was unconsciously using his powers and closed his eyes with a sigh.

Piotr nodded knowingly. He'd seen the past three days were very strained between Bobby and Rogue, especially when word had spread around the school after a student overheard a discussion between Rogue and Storm that Rogue had actually fought with the man who was still unconscious in the Med lab.

"Bobby, you need to cool down a bit," Piotr said, and then grinned slightly. "No pun intended there."

Bobby rolled his eyes at his friends attempt to inject some humor into the discussion.

"Bobby, you should just give her a bit of time to settle down and get over your fight. It didn't help that she heard you talking to Kitty yesterday about her being impulsive when she confronted this 'Gambit' person, with her not really having any sort of offensive powers like the rest of us."

"I think right now a big part of the problem between you two is that you don't think before you open your mouth, Bobby. You know she hates being stuck with the power she has and you saying that just reinforced her belief that it isn't useful. And just now, you said something similar about her power – what if she was listening right now? And I really think that any girl would be pretty insulted if her boyfriend implied she was impulsive and wasn't strong enough to defend herself. As to her new interest in medicine, I think you should respect her interests and her choices, no matter how you feel about it." Peter said.

Bobby sighed and passed his hands over his face. "Damnit, you're right, Piotr. I really stuck my foot in deep this time, didn't I?"

Piotr nodded and patted him on his back sympathetically. "Yes, you really did. But don't worry, she'll get over it soon enough. Now, you can be a man and apologize to her – maybe tomorrow when she's calmed down a bit, or you can just keep fighting and break up bitterly. That is your choice, Bobby. If you do apologize to her, the best thing for you two would be for you to take her out to dinner somewhere or just take her out on the grounds for a picnic or something and show her that you're dedicated to making things work between the two of you."

A smile slowly grew on Bobby's face. "That's a great idea, Piotr! Thanks!" He paused and looked at his friend with a furrowed brow. "How is it you always have such good advice when it comes to stuff like this?"

Piotr laughed. "Well, besides the fact that I had some experience myself back in high school, remember I've got Illyana who has been dating since she turned fourteen so I've had quite a bit of experience in giving dating advice," he said, referring to his seventeen year old sister who lived back home while attending her last year of high school.

Bobby stood up, a smile now fully on his face. "Thanks Piotr, I've gotta do some thinking and figure out the perfect date for Rogue and me." He said with excitement now in his voice as he walked away.

Piotr looked back down to his book with a chuckle. He was quite able to admit to himself that all of his recent advice to Bobby to help him keep his relationship with Rogue together wasn't entirely a selfless assistance to a friend. He was also doing it because he had a crush on Kitty Pryde – the girl he realized that Bobby may turn to if his relationship with Rogue went south. '_Now if only she would notice me instead of Bobby_,' Piotr thought wistfully.

* * *

Annie Ghazikhanian walked back down to the Medlab after dinner and stopped in the doorway when she saw Rogue was already inside the room. She could see a fresh bag of saline solution which meant Rogue had already changed it for the night.

Annie had connected very quickly with the young woman, seeing a bit of herself in her. Because of her power, most people were at best politely detached with her and few wanted to become close to her. Annie had experienced much of the same as she grew up. Her entire grade-school and high school years she'd been shunned as a "nerd". In college she'd gained more acceptance but even then the man who was Carter's father had abandoned her once he learned their time together had resulted in her pregnancy.

She watched Rogue remove the dressings from Gambit's wounds and replace them with fresh ones – his wounds were healing at an incredible rate, so Annie wanted to make sure his dressings were changed frequently to prevent infection from taking hold in the rapidly closing wounds, especially the deeper abdomen wound. She wasn't entirely sure why he had not regained consciousness, but her guess was that it likely involved his fast healing rate taking up a large portion of his energy.

The roll of gauze that Rogue was about to put away slipped from her fingers and onto the floor and she bent down to pick it up, and then jumped slightly when she saw Annie standing in the doorway and dropped it again. Annie smiled and walked into the room as Rogue blushed and retrieved the roll once more.

Rogue tossed the gauze into a trashcan after its fall onto the floor. "Hey Annie, how was supper?"

Annie rolled her eyes. "Well, it was just like any other supper when it's Logan's turn to take care of it – Little Caesar's pizza."

Rogue giggled. "Yeah, he's not much of a cook is he?"

"Nope," Annie said, and then looked more seriously at Rogue. "Despite Logan being the one who bought, I was surprised you weren't there. Are you feeling okay?"

Rogue shrugged her shoulders and sat down heavily on a wheeled chair next to Gambit's bed. "Yeah, Ah've just not really had much of an appetite lately."

"Bobby?" Annie asked, looking knowingly at Rogue's glum expression.

Rogue sighed. "Yeah. All we ever seem to do is fight with each other lately. Yesterday Ah heard him tellin' Kitty that Ah'm impulsive an' can't defend mahself because mah power is useless unlike ev'ryone else's around here."

Annie pulled another chair over and sat down next to her before placing a comforting arm across Rogue's shoulders. "Rogue, I don't know how you felt about Bobby back before I came here, but since you've started telling me about him and since I've seen you two interact, I have to say that it doesn't really seem like he's really dedicated to the two of you, at least deep down."

Rogue looked down and whispered. "That's what Ah've been afraid of. Ah'm really startin' to wonder the same thing. Ah just don't know what to do – mah first boyfriend is still in a coma from kissin' me, an' now Bobby doesn't want to even get close to touchin' me after we kissed an' Ah started absorbin' him. Sometimes Ah think no one will ever wanna get close to me an' Ah'll be alone 'cuz of this stupid power." Rogue said, clenching her gloved fists.

Annie squeezed her shoulders. "You're not alone in thinking things like that, Rogue. I've sometimes wondered the same thing myself. Carter's dad left me while I was still pregnant, and I've tried dating over the years but haven't really had any more luck. Even if you and Bobby don't work out, you've got your whole life ahead of you to find a guy that's right for you."

Rogue looked over to Annie and gave her a weak smile, happy that another person was willing to keep such close contact with her like Annie was willing to.

"Thanks Annie," she said. "Ah'm really not sure how we're gonna work out, but if Bobby keeps up like he has been, Ah think Ah'll hafta break it off with him an' let him be happy with Kitty if that's who he wants."

Annie patted Rogue's back comfortingly and then stood up. "Whatever you end up doing, just remember you have friends like me and Ororo and Logan that you can count on to support you."

Rogue smiled up at her and nodded. Annie walked over to Gambit's bed and cast a critical eye over his bandages. As she removed a dermal thermometer from a drawer and focused it on Gambit's skin to make sure he had not developed a fever – something that could indicate an infection from his wounds – she looked back over to Rogue. "Thank you for all of your help down here taking care of him. I'll make a nurse out of you yet."

Rogue blushed slightly. "It's no problem Annie. It gives me somethin' to do and think 'bout besides school and Bobby." She looked at the clock on the wall and sighed. "Ah better get goin'. Ah still have homework to do before Ah go to bed."

"Alright Rogue. In case I don't see you again, goodnight and have a good sleep."

"'Nite," Rogue said as she walked toward the entrance of the Medlab.

Annie pulled the thermometer away when it finally beeped and saw that it read 101 degrees. She'd been worried about fever the first time she had seen it, but according to Storm her friend's mutation seemed to keep his body at a higher temperature than most people.

Annie hummed to herself and removed the disposable tip and tossed into the garbage before she put a clean tip onto the thermometer and placed it back into the drawer. She walked to the back of the Medlab and through a door to where Xavier had set up an office for her. She sat back in her chair behind her desk and pulled out a book she had started to read during the past week. 'If he doesn't become conscious by tomorrow we're going to have to figure out something to do,' she mused to herself as she flipped her book open to the page she had bookmarked.

* * *

Later that night Rogue had completed her homework, and as she closed her book she felt her stomach growl. '_Damn_,' she thought to herself, '_now I'm getting pretty hungry. Guess I'll head down and see if they had any leftover pizza_.'

Rogue clicked her desk lamp off and left her room. She passed Storm's room and saw her sitting on her bed reading a book.

She walked down the stairs, and avoided the living room when she heard the voices of Bobby and Piotr drifting through the hallway. She walked into the kitchen and found that it was deserted, but that wasn't unusual at around eleven o'clock. She flicked on the lights near the counter and opened the fridge and bent down to look at the shelves for some sort of leftovers to tide her over until the morning.

* * *

Remy struggled to push himself to complete consciousness. He was almost certain he'd heard people talking near him, but he felt that the passage of time had become warped while he was unconscious – minutes seemed like hours and hours seemed like seconds.

He finally managed to open his eyes, and hissed out a soft curse when a glaring light above him sent a stabbing pain through his sensitive eyes. He groped around blindly for his sunglasses but felt nothing. He turned his head to the side, away from the light, and squinted at his surroundings.

He saw an IV stand, and cool metal walls and examination tables which led him to believe he was in a hospital of some sort. 'What am I doing here?' he wondered to himself. He pulled his arms further back and used them to help push himself up. He felt a twinge of pain in his abdomen and when he moved his hand he felt a tug and realized an IV had been taped to his arm.

He reached down and touched his abdomen and felt gauze over his skin and everything that had happened flashed back into his head. 'Stormy must have taken me to a hospital or something. How long have I been out?' He wondered to himself.

Remy glanced to the other side and saw a table and could make out the shape of his sunglasses lying folded on top of it. He reached out and managed to snag them nimbly with the tips of his fingers. He settled them on his face and slowly opened his eyes. He breathed a sigh of relief at the muted light and absence of a jolt of pain.

Remy stretched his arms and felt the tug of another bandage on his shoulder, and realized his entire torso was bare and he was only wearing a pair of pants. He grunted and glanced around the room which looked like a miniature hospital wing. The door was a thick metal door embossed with a large "X" symbol. '_Maybe not a hospital_,' he thought, '_maybe the school and Ororo's X-men have a place to take care of injuries_'.

Remy felt his stomach rumble violently, and he realized he was suddenly very hungry. He pushed himself upright and swung his legs over the table and onto the ground. He held the edge of the bed as he stood on weak and wobbly legs until they steadied. He reached out to the IV stand when he saw that it was wheeled, and gripped that for support. 'No sense pissing off Stormy by taking out my IV if I can just wheel it around,' he thought to himself.

He took a step and then had to stop and grip the stand helplessly as his vision grayed out and he felt vertigo wash through him as blood rushed to his head from standing after his days in the bed. Once his vision cleared and he regained his sense of which direction up was, he padded barefoot towards the door with the IV stand rolling silently alongside him.

The door hissed silently open as he neared it, and he walked through, out into a long corridor populated by other doors with similar "X" symbols adorning them. If he wasn't so hungry he would have let his curiosity lead him to investigate each room, but all he could think about was getting something into his stomach.

He glanced into one room, which was filled with weights, treadmills, and other work-out machinery, and confirmed his suspicions. 'Either I'm in some sort of basement, or the X-men don't like windows,' he mused.

He walked further to the end of the hall and slowly walked up a set of stairs, lifting the IV stand to every step so he could pull on it to help himself up. He felt himself breathing heavily as he reached the top of the stairs. 'Mon Dieu_, how long have I been out of it_?' He wondered to himself.

He looked around and found himself near a large room that seemed to be an entrance area as he could see outside through windows near the door that occupied one side of the room.

Remy wandered down the hall and saw that the architecture on the ground floor was far different from the cool metal halls in the basement, and he realized that he was in the mansion where he had passed out in Ororo's arms.

He heard the television blaring in one room and several people talking. He strained his hearing and realized they were talking about chemistry. Remy crinkled his nose. '_Damn glad I'm done with all of that B.S.,_' Remy thought to himself as he hurried past the slightly open door of that room.

He walked further down the hall and reached another entranceway where a light dimly shone from inside the room on the other side. This one did not have a door but was instead a large open frame. He glanced inside. '_Jackpot_,' he thought when he spotted a countertop and an area with several tables further in the room.

He rounded the corner and stopped dead when he saw he was not alone. A petite female figure was bent over, looking into the fridge. '_Double jackpot_,' Remy thought to himself with a grin as he watched the girl. She was wearing a well-worn pair of sweatpants and a light t-shirt – it looked to him like a makeshift pair of pajamas. The light illuminated her long brown hair which had been pulled back into a ponytail. As she moved her head slightly to the side to grab what looked like a box of pizza, he saw it glimmer off a white lock of hair that was tucked behind her ear.

Recognition flashed through Remy's mind. '_Feisty girl_,' he thought, remembering the girl who had managed to catch him off guard and knock him on his back. '_Damn, I _thought_ she was cute. Didn't even realize she had such a nice ass_,' he thought.

The girl straightened and turned with the pizza box in her hands. She jumped and made a noise that Remy could only classify as a squeak, and the pizza box nearly slipped from her hands. She raised a hand and pressed it against her chest.

"Jesus Christ! Ya scared the crap outta me!" She said, and he noticed her distinct southern accent, something he hadn't caught during their earlier encounter. "What're ya doin' outta your bed?" She demanded. She moved her hand from her chest as her heartbeat slowed and no longer felt like it was going to burst from her chest.

The man grinned in the same lopsided way he had three days ago. "Sorry I scared you. I was jus' enjoyin' de view." He said, nodding at her.

Rogue felt heat flood her face when she realized he was talking about her bending over in front of the fridge, and she was glad the low light would help hide her blush.

She let the fridge door close and set the pizza box down on the countertop. She finally looked back up to Gambit and saw he had his sunglasses on once again, and realized he must have just recently regained consciousness as his IV was still in and he remained shirtless. She gave herself a mental smack in the head when she realized she was rather enjoying watching the low light of the kitchen bounce across his body and off the tattoo of a playing card – the ace of spades – wreathed in fire on the bicep of his right arm.

"Ah was wonderin' when ya were gonna wake up," Rogue said. "Did Annie tell ya to get somethin' to eat?"

Gambit frowned slightly. "Annie? Who's dat?"

"The nurse down in the Medlab – the one that's been takin' care of ya?"

Gambit shook his head. "_Non_, I jus' woke up an' no one was down dere wit' me. I was starvin' so I decided to look for de kitchen." He nodded to the box of pizza. "Mind if I have some?"

Rogue shook her head in uncertainty. "Ah don't think Annie would want ya eatin' pizza right away before she checks ya out. Besides, ya haven't eaten in at least three days an' ya'd probably end up pukin' it up in a few hours."

She saw him sigh in disappointment and quickly added, "Ah could make you some toast – Ah'm sure that wouldn't upset your stomach."

Gambit smiled. "Dat'd be nice. Maybe put some honey on it an' call it good?" He asked hopefully. "Not really a fan of plain toast."

"Okay, Ah'll make ya some toast so why don't ya go sit down at the table there. Ah don't wanna get in trouble with Annie for lettin' ya wear yahself out now that ya finally woke up."

Gambit complied readily, already feeling his legs growing weak from the walk to the kitchen and his time spent standing there. He sank heavily into a chair facing the countertop and watched Rogue move around the kitchen.

Rogue popped two pieces of bread into the toaster and once they were browned she searched through the cupboards until she found a bottle of honey. Once she drizzled some over the top of the toast, she picked up the plate and the box of pizza and carried them over to the table. She set the plate in front of Gambit and sat down in a chair across the table from him.

She watched in amazement as he promptly devoured the first piece in two large bites and then, when he realized she was watching him, bit slowly into the second piece.

Rogue opened the box and removed a piece of pepperoni pizza and bit into it. "So," she said once she swallowed her bite, "how are ya feelin'?

Gambit shrugged. "Doin' alright. Dis hurts a bit," he said, touching his bandaged abdomen, "but not too bad. Got no energy though."

He watched her take another bite. "I don' t'ink we been introduced, _une jolie_. What's y'name?"

Rogue smiled and held out a hand, which he realized was gloved. "Ah'm Rogue."

"_Enchanté_," he said. He took her hand in his own and turned it and bent his head to brush his lips on her knuckles. He managed to hide a smile when she blushed.

"Most people call me Gambit," he said, "but m'friends call me Remy LeBeau."

"An' can _Ah_ call ya Remy?" Rogue asked tentatively.

"_Oui_, I'd like t'be friends wit' you, Rogue," Remy said to her.

Rogue smiled and slowly pulled her hand away from his and continued eating her pizza. After Remy took his last few bites of toast, he leaned his back against the chair and moved his arms above his head stretching the muscles that had been unused for nearly four days according to what Rogue had told him.

Rogue shot discrete glances as his muscles moved beneath his skin as he stretched and then looked at him in concern when his hissed out a breath and lowered his arms to discretely rub at his abdominal wound.

"Ah'm sorry," Rogue found herself saying before she realized she was even planning to speak.

Remy quirked an eyebrow in both amusement and confusion. "For what?"

Rogue lowered her gaze and guilt crept across her features. "Sorry for hittin' ya in your bullet wound. An' -"

Remy grinned disarmingly at her and cut her off in mid-sentence. "No need t'apologize. You didn' know I was hurt dere."

Rogue shrugged, her gaze fixed on her hands which rested on the table. "Ah know that. Still feel bad about it though. An' Ah'm sorry for not listenin' to ya when y'said y'were here to visit someone. Ah thought ya were breakin' in an' when ya moved Ah thought y'were goin' ta attack me."

"Hey, I wouldn'ta trusted me either," Remy said, slowly reaching across the table to tilt her chin and bring her eyes up from the table to him.

Rogue hit his hand away before it reached her. "No, don't touch me!" she said, looking up, and Remy could see the same panic from the other day in her eyes.

Remy pulled his hand back and held both of his hands up, palms out facing her. "Sorry, Rogue. I wasn' trying t'hurt you." He said.

'_She's acting like she's been abused or something_,' he thought grimly to himself.

Rogue shook her head and took a deep breath. "No, Ah'm sorry. Ah know ya weren't goin' ta hurt me, Remy. It's just…. it's mah mutation."

Remy looked at her curiously. "You mean like when you absorbed my powers?"

Rogue sighed, readying herself for another rejection when he learned about her mutation. "Yeah. Ah've got poison skin. Ah absorb people's powers an' memories, and if Ah hold on long enough Ah could put someone in a coma or kill 'em. An' Ah can't turn 'em off. Ah can't touch anyone with mah bare skin without suckin' the life outta them."

Remy had in the past few years developed a rudimentary empathy which allowed him to pick up the emotions of others, and he was able to read a resigned disappointment coming from her. She was expecting him to shun her because of her powers and inability to control them.

"Wow, dat really sucks. I know how you feel though, Rogue," he said, placing his hand on one of her gloved ones.

She looked up at him and felt tears bristle at the corners of her eyes, and a small surge of anger well up in her. "How can ya say ya know how Ah feel?" She demanded. "Ah can't touch _anyone_. Ah can't feel someone else's skin on mah hands or mah arms or mah cheek. Ah can't even hug someone without bein' worried unless Ah check ta make sure mah skin is covered and mah head is only near their shoulders. How can y'know what that's like?" She said, tears finally leaking down her cheeks. She felt all her frustration over her powers and over Bobby rush out of her during her rant.

Remy looked down. "I know how y'feel cuz I couldn' touch anyone for a long time either. I can put energy into t'ings by touchin' dem, an' make dem blow up. When m'powers first popped out, I was sixteen an' I blew up an auditorium. I started blowin' up ev'ryday t'ings, like toothbrushes an' spoons, an' soon it was pretty much anythin' I touched. I was afraid t'touch my _frère_ or my _tante_ or my _père _because I thought I'd blow dem up too. I finally got control wit' some help two years later, an' even den I was scared t'touch people for a while."

Rogue looked apologetically at him. "Ah – Ah'm sorry Ah snapped at ya, Ah didn' know. Ah'm just so sick of most people tellin' me they know how Ah feel when they really have no idea."

Remy smiled, and then did what he had been trying to resist because of her earlier reaction – he brushed his thumb quickly over her cheek, swiping away the lone tear that sat there. He felt a slight tingle in his hand, but his contact was so brief it was hardly noticeable.

Rogue stared at him in amazement. "Thanks, Remy. For... not bein' afraid of me I mean. Only a few people ever try ta deliberately touch mah skin after they learn about mah power. An' even fewer when they feel what it's like when Ah absorb them."

"Well, I don't know how I could ever be 'fraid of such a _belle fille_," He said, this time not hiding his smile when she blushed. He decided he really liked seeing her like that.

Remy pushed his mirrored sunglasses further up the bridge of his nose, and Rogue remembered something she'd been wanting to ask him. "Remy, why do ya wear sunglasses all the time?"

"You sure you want t'know de reason?" He asked her.

When she nodded, he slowly removed his sunglasses. She saw his eyes were scrunched closed beneath them. As he slowly opened them, blinking slightly in the light of the kitchen, she gasped. The irises of his eyes were a bright red color, and the sclera surrounding the irises – usually white in most people and known as the "whites" of the eyes – was completely black. It gave his eyes a hypnotic, glowing appearance.

Remy moved quickly to replace the glasses when he heard her gasp, but she placed her hand over the one that held the glasses to stop him. "Remy, they're gorgeous!" She blurted out, and then slapped a hand over her mouth, blushing brightly when she realized what she'd said.

He hesitated, looking at her for several moments as if trying to decide if she was just trying to be nice and was actually creeped out like most people or if she really thought they were 'gorgeous', and then folded the glasses and placed them on the table. "You t'ink so? Most people get freaked out when dey see my eyes."

"Yes Ah do think so, Remy," Rogue said, looking seriously at him as she removed her hand from her mouth. "Ah like 'em."

"Well, you're one of de few _femmes_ dat t'ink dat." Remy said.

"How long have they been like that?" Rogue asked curiously.

"Long as I can remember. Dey usedta call me _le diable blanc_ – de white devil – when I was young."

"So is that why ya wear sunglasses all th' time? So people don't get freaked out?"

"Well, dat's part of it," Remy said, "dey are also pretty sensitive ta bright lights, so dese usually protect dem."

Remy still looked somewhat uncomfortable about the subject so she decided to change the subject. "Ah like your accent. It's Cajun, right?"

Remy's posture relaxed visibly. "_Oui_. I was born an' raised in N'awlins. Now let me guess for you – Miss'ippi, somewhere near 'bama?"

Rogue laughed and grinned widely. "Yeah, Ah'm from Meridian. How'd ya tell that?"

Remy shrugged nonchalantly. "Got a t'ing for accents. Ev'ry place has got a slightly dif'rent accent an' way dey use words."

Rogue took her last bite of the second slice of pizza she'd removed from the box, and then moved her legs up onto her chair so that her legs were folded up against her chest and she rested her folded arms on her knees. "So, why'd ya come here to see Ororo?"

Remy picked at the crumbs on his plate. "Well, Stormy tol' me I could check dis place out whenever I liked an' said I got an open invitation t'dis X-men team she's a part of."

Rogue's face lit up. "Really? Ah thought ya might only be here t'get help with somethin' from Storm. If ya like it here an' take her up on her invitation, we'd be teammates."

A large smile broke across Remy's face. "Y'mean you're an X-man? Or would dat be X-woman?"

Rogue giggled and nodded. "Yeah, me an' some of mah friends finally got spots on the team a few weeks ago."

"Well den, I t'ink dat I might just take stay here." He said to her. "Maybe I c'n help ya get your powers under control since I had de same problems wit' mine."

Rogues eyes widened and a small smile blossomed on her face. "Really? That'd be so great Remy, I –"

At that moment Ororo, who had apparently heard Rogue's voice from the room popped her head inside the doorway. She had a worried look on her face. "Rogue have you seen-" She broke off and sighed in relief when she saw Remy sitting at the table with her student. "Thank God, Gambit. Annie left her office for all of ten minutes and when she came back you were gone. What on earth possessed you to leave the med lab when you just woke up, especially while you're healing from two gunshot wounds?"

Remy looked sheepish. "Sorry Stormy, I woke up an' I was starvin' so I found de kitchen."

Ororo walked over to him and raised an eyebrow at his empty plate. "You didn't eat something that'll upset your stomach did you?"

"No Ororo," Rogue interjected. "Ah made him two slices of toast and that's all he's eaten. Although if Ah hadn't been here he'dve eaten the leftover pizza." She said, shooting a grin at Remy.

Ororo smiled at her. "Thank you, Rogue. It's good to see someone around here has some sort of common sense."

Remy gave both of them a mock wounded look. "Hey, I got common sense! It's my stomach dat don'!"

Storm laughed and placed a hand on Remy's shoulder. "Well, if you're done eating we better get you back down to the med lab before Annie has a heart attack over a missing patient."

Remy stood shakily and hastily gripped the IV stand to support himself. Ignoring his protests that he was fine, Storm grabbed his free arm and draped it over her shoulder. Rogue placed his plate in the sink and tossed the empty pizza box in the trash can and followed them out of the room.

Storm led Remy down the hall opposite to the entranceway, and stopped in front of a pair of doors which slid open when she pushed a button, revealing an elevator. "Damn, I woulda gone up dis instead of de stairs if I knew dis was here," Remy said with a groan. Signs of his exhaustion were finally beginning to show on his face.

The doors slid closed after Rogue entered the elevator, and Remy leaned back heavily against the wall. To Rogue it was clear that he'd been supporting most of his weight himself using the IV stand so he didn't put much weight on Ororo's shoulders, and it had taken a lot out of him.

The elevator jolted briefly and began its descent to the lower level of the mansion. The doors opened, and Rogue moved to Remy's other side and moved his arm over her shoulder. She took the IV stand from his grasp and held it in her own hand. She looked to the left at his face and raised an eyebrow, daring him to protest.

Remy's red-on-black eyes danced and then he chuckled. "Alrigh', alrigh', guess ya caught me." He said, and looked over at Ororo with an embarrassed grin when she realized what he'd been doing.

"Remy, just let us help you out. I know you're too proud to accept help most of the time, but you're injured and we both know that most of your energy goes into healing yourself when you're hurt as badly as you were." she admonished.

Remy signed in resignation and then leaned heavily on their shoulders as he came away from the back wall. As they walked him back he glanced over to Rogue with a grin. "Y'know, if ya wanted ta get dis close ta me all ya had to do was ask. I know dat most femmes can hardly keep their hands off me. Glad ta see I still got de touch even when I been shot."

A blush colored her cheeks and she shook her head in exasperation. "Geez. Ah'm sure ya've been told this plenty of times, but you're completely full of yahself."

Remy laughed. "_Mon Dieu_, ya _**are**_ a feisty one."

The doors to the med lab slid open and they were greeted by an anxious Annie. They helped him to his bed and he lay back on the pillows with a sigh of relief. Rogue wheeled the IV stand back to its spot next to the bed, and Annie moved to the other side.

"You gave me quite a scare there. I'm not used to patients just getting up and walking away like that."

"Sorry, woke up an' was really hungry so I went ta get somet'ing ta eat. An' don' worry, Miss Pizza Nazi over dere made sure I only ate toast," he grumbled, and nodded at Rogue but softened his comments with a lopsided smile.

"Well, I'm glad you're awake. I was getting worried today that you still hadn't regained consciousness. I was going to examine you once you woke up, but you look pretty beat so I'll put that off until tomorrow morning. Tomorrow I think we can take this thing out of you as well," Annie said, touching his IV.

Remy yawned and blinked. "Yeah, dat's probably a good idea. G'night Stormy." He said as he let his eyelids close.

"Goodnight. We'll have to catch up tomorrow if you're not feeling so drained."

Remy nodded and then sleepily muttered, "G'night, Rogue," as he drifted to sleep.

"Night," Rogue said softly.

Ororo looked to the other two women, and raised a hand to her mouth to hide a yawn of her own. "Well, I think he has the right idea. I'm headed to bed. Rogue, you should probably head off too – don't you have a seven o'clock class with Professor Xavier tomorrow?"

Rogue nodded and began following her out of the room while Annie walked back into her office to shut off the lights, and then started when she glanced at the clock on the wall of the med lab, which showed it was nearly one in the morning. "Damn!" She exclaimed, "Ah didn' realize Remy an' Ah were talkin' that long."

"'Remy'?" Ororo asked and looked curiously back at Rogue. "Where'd you hear his name? I don't remember mentioning that."

Rogue shrugged. "Remy told me. He said usually only his friends call him that an' he wanted ta be my friend."

Ororo looked at her with a surprised expression on her face. "Well that's an understatement. He rarely tells anyone his real name unless he has known them for quite some time and come to trust them. I didn't know his name for almost two weeks, and even then it was under special circumstances."

"You didn't?"

"No, I didn't, Rogue." She moved her head closer to Rogue's and lowered her voice conspiratorially. "Only thing I can think of is he trusts you, really has the hots for you, or both. Probably both, knowing Remy." She said, and laughed when Rogue looked at her in shock.

"R-really?" Rogue asked, feeling both excited at the thought and ashamed for her excitement when an image of Bobby flashed through her head.

"Probably, Rogue. You might not think it but you're a very beautiful young woman, and pretty girls tend to be Remy's weakness if they aren't complete airheads and have a personality that he likes. Besides, from all the flirting I saw from him as we took him down I think it's safe to say he likes you."

Rogue stared at the door of the elevator in silence, trying to sort through her conflicted feelings.

"Rogue, I saw the way you two looked at each other. I know you like him - just don't break his heart. I know you are dating Bobby and if Bobby is the person you love, then tell Remy that right away and he'll back off. I just… I don't want to see him hurt again."

Rogue nodded with a heavy sigh, and then looked at her curiously. "What happened?"

Ororo glanced away. "He was really in love a year or so ago, and he caught the girl cheating on him. I don't want to see him like that again."

Rogue nodded in understanding. "Ah won't lead him on. But heck, Ah'm not even sure if Bobby is the person Ah want to be with. We've been havin' so many problems lately an' Ah just think our relationship has started ta die."

Ororo patted her on the shoulder. "Love, especially young love, can be really tricky. Lots of times it goes hot and cold. It gets hot very quickly but then everything cools just as fast."

The elevator reached the top floor, and they exited it and walked down the hallways toward their rooms. "Ah was wonderin', how did yah meet Remy?" Rogue asked Storm hesitantly.

Storm stopped at her doorway leaned against the door, which had been repaired, something Logan had seen to the day after the fight. "I'll tell you the whole story someday, but a few years ago, before you and Logan arrived at the mansion, something happened to me and I woke up in Louisiana with my memory of everything after my fifteenth birthday erased. I was so confused because I didn't look fifteen. Remy was the first person who found me and we spent several months together, roaming the East Coast, trying to get my memory back. We became good friends during that time, and for a while I even thought I was in love with him, but we realized we would never be anything more than good friends and now he's basically become the younger brother that I never had."

Rogue smiled. "Thanks for tellin' me that. From what yah told me an' from talkin' with him, he's a really nice guy. Ah wonder why anyone would want ta shoot him."

Ororo placed a hand on her shoulder. "I don't know who would have shot him, but I know that in the past he's had to get involved with some less than savory people to get by and fit in where he grew up."

"Y'mean, like criminals?"

Ororo shrugged. "Sometimes, yeah. The way he grew up that was normal – his family is very involved in that."

Rogue looked at her thoughtfully and then a large yawn overtook her. She covered her mouth and then said, "Sorry, Ah guess Ah'm really tired. Ah better go to bed."

"Goodnight Rogue. Have a good sleep. I may have you show Remy around the school tomorrow if he's feeling up to it, and how my classes go."

She watched Rogue nod and walk further down the hall to her room. Ororo then pushed herself off from her leaning position against the door and opened it up. She changed into some nightclothes and collapsed gratefully onto her mattress.

'_Less than savory is an understatement,' _she thought wryly to herself. She drifted off to sleep wondering which of Remy's numerous employers decided they wanted him dead.

* * *

The black-clad young man slipped through the door of the abandoned warehouse. He walked past stacks of empty wooden crates and freight shipping containers that had been left in the warehouse. He moved down one aisle and saw a blond-haired man wearing horn-rimmed glasses and a long gray trenchcoat, sitting on a crate.

The blond-haired man looked up as he came into view. "Report."

The young man nodded. "LeBeau has been taken care of."

The blond-haired man looked sharply at him. "Are you sure Mister Boudreaux? You confirmed it?"

Émile Boudreaux hid his anger at being questioned. "Of course I did. Dis was personal. LeBeau is at de bottom of a river right now."

"Alright. Here's your fee," he said, tossing a bundle of hundred dollar bills to him.

Émile flipped through the notes and then stuffed the bundle in his pocket. "Thanks for the opportunity," he said. '_Julien, I finished what you started. I hope you're at peace now brother_,' he thought, his eyes rising momentarily heavenward. Émile turned and began to walk away, intent on getting back to New Orleans as quickly as possible.

"Oh, Boudreaux," the other man called after him. Émile turned his head, and the man smoothly pulled a pistol with a suppressor protruding from its barrel. He pulled the trigger and Émile's body fell to the floor as the man double-tapped his shot, sending two bullets smoothly into his head.

The man removed the silencer and placed it in his pocket, and then took a long rod from another pocket. The rod ended with sharp metal protrusions that emerged around the outside of the rod. He inserted it into the barrel and twisted it several times around the barrel, scratching sharply into the metal to change the barrel profile permanently, making any future bullet fired from the gun different from the two in Boudreaux's body, rendering it impossible to match them to the gun.

He slipped the gun and rod into an inner pocket of his coat, and removed a thin cell phone. He flipped it open and pressed "1", activating the speed dial, and pushed the Talk button.

The phone on the other end rang several times before a voice with a smooth timbre answered. "Yes?"

"That matter we discussed several days ago has been cleared up. The loose ends have been tied up and I just provided our assistant with his reward for his help."

"You're sure?" The voice asked.

"Yes, our assistant was quite certain he'd taken care of everything."

"Very good. I'll see you tomorrow morning at the campaign office for the strategy meeting." The voice said before hanging up on his end of the conversation.

The man flipped the phone closed and removed a lighter from his pocket. He flicked the flint twice and sparks flew, igniting a flame at the top. He held it up to a pile of newspapers which rested on a crate, and they instantly flared up, the fire quickly catching on the crate below.

The man strolled from the building as the orange flickering glow of fire filled the warehouse behind him.

* * *

_**A/N: **__Well, hope you liked it. Plenty of ROMY goodness in this chapter. It'll be a while before they actually hook up though – attempts will first be made by Bobby and Rogue to patch up and eventually end their relationship, etc. _

_And no, Émile, is not from the comics but rather a character of my own creation (his brother however __**is**__ from the comics – for those that don't know, Julian in the comics was killed in a duel he challenged Remy to)_

_Thanks to those of you who reviewed, I really appreciate the feedback on this story._


	4. Chapter 4: Acclimation: Morning

_**Disclaimer: X-men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So please don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway. ;)**_

_AN: Please Read and Review. Hope you enjoy this chapter, and thanks for all of the reviews I received last chapter_

**Chapter 4: Acclimation - Morning**

* * *

Remy groaned as sleep left him. He rubbed away the rheum that had formed on his eyelashes during the night, and cracked an eye open to reach for his sunglasses. He placed them on his head and pushed himself to a sitting position on his bed. He glanced at his watch and saw that it was just past six o'clock. Remy squinted behind his sunglasses as a bright light flared across the room as the door to the office in the back of the Medlab opened, and he realized he had been woken by Annie entering the sliding door at the front of the Medlab.

Annie set a book she had been carrying down on her desk and turned around back to the lab. "Good morning," she greeted him cheerfully. "Sorry if I woke you up, I like to get an early start to my mornings."

"S'okay," Gambit said as he yawned. As Annie walked closer to him he realized she was dressed in sweatpants and a hooded jersey. "You gettin' ready ta work out or somet'ing?"

Annie nodded. "Yeah, I was going to go for a run around the grounds of the mansion, but since you're awake, why don't we give you a quick checkup and get that IV out of you?"

"Oui, dat'd be great," Remy said, relieved that he'd get it out of the way early.

Annie walked over to a drawer and pulled out a thermometer, and placed the tip against his skin, depressing the button. "Here, hold this right here until it beeps while I grab a few things," she said.

Remy grabbed the bottom of the thermometer and held it while she grabbed a stethoscope and several other instruments. As she moved back and placed them on the table, the thermometer beeped, and she took it from his grasp, removing the tip from his ear. "Hm, still 101. Ororo said it was normal for you to run a few degrees higher than most people?"

"Oui, dat's about right. Usually its 100 or 101," Remy said.

Annie nodded and placed it back on the table. She grabbed an otoscope and turned the light at the end on. "I'll just give you a basic checkup, so ears, eyes, throat, and heartbeat," she said, "Could you turn your head and tilt it to the side?" When he complied, she inserted the tip of the otoscope into his ear and peered through the low-magnification lens, checking the health of his ear and ear canal. She repeated the procedure with his other ear.

She checked his throat, and felt the lymph nodes below his jaw. "Okay, could you remove your sunglasses?"

He hesitated, and she knew why. "Don't worry, I've already seen them when I checked your pupil reaction while you were unconscious." He removed the glasses and she tested his eye reaction to movement and had him follow her finger around with his eyes. She finally put the stethoscope to her ears and placed the bell to his chest, listening for some time to his breathing and heartbeat.

She stood back and smiled at him. "Well, I have to say you're one of the healthiest people I've seen a few days after they were shot twice." She moved to the cabinet and removed a bandage. She took his arm into her hands and peeled the tape off before gently removing the needle of the IV. She peeled away the back of the bandage and secured it over where the IV needle had punctured his skin.

"Alright, I want you to take it easy the next few days, and I want you to come back down here sometime this afternoon so I can check how your wounds are healing up. I think they might be healed enough to take your stitches out. You should probably go get some breakfast and get some more food in your system and you'll probably not feel as tired later today."

"Alrigh', Annie. I'll come see y'later t'day. Thanks for takin' care of me. 'Preciate it."

"You're welcome, Gambit, but you should really be thanking Rogue. She's been working with me, learning some medicine, and she did most of the work - she stitched up your shoulder wound for me and she's been in here changing your bandages every day."

Remy smiled. "I'll hafta remember dat."

Annie grinned back, and her eyes widened when she remembered something. She walked over to the other side of the room and grabbed a black T-shirt from a countertop, and tossed it to him. "Here, Ororo went out and bought some things for you since we had to cut the shirt you were wearing to treat you. I think she put all of your body armor and stuff in a guest room she's getting set up for you."

"Thanks," Remy said as she walked toward the exit, "have a good run," he called after her.

Remy looked at the t-shirt in his hands and pulled the collar over his head. He shoved his arms through the sleeves and hissed out a breath as the stitches in his shoulder pulled painfully at his skin.

He pulled the shirt down the rest of the way and slowly stood, testing out the strength of his legs. '_Better than last night_,' he thought as he wobbled only slightly. Remy slid his sunglasses back onto his face and slowly walked to the exit of the room. He moved down the hallway and punched the button to call the elevator, wanting to avoid the steps as much as he could.

As the curved door of the elevator slid open on the main floor, he realized that the halls were just as deserted as they had been the night before. This time even the television was silenced and the lights in every room he walked by were turned off. He smiled to himself. "Guess dey're not mornin' people. Dey'd learn t'get up early like I did if dey had Sarah-" he muttered and then broke off as he remembered exactly why he had come to the mansion.

His eyes widened, and a curse slipped from his lips. '_Merde, I haven't called her and Henri in three days now. She's probably freaking out right now. Henri probably is too. I'll have to call them today_,' he thought to himself.

Remy entered the kitchen, and moved straight to the fridge, which was this time not occupied by Rogue. He pulled the door open and bent down, holding onto the side of the fridge to keep his balance. His eyes jumped quickly across each shelf, analyzing each item with the same speed and organization as he did when he was casing a location for a future hit.

His eyes settled on a large carton of eggs, deciding to keep it simple and bland so as to not upset Ororo. He pulled the egg carton out and set it on the countertop. He began opening cabinet doors until he found one that contained skillets and another with plates. He pulled one of each out and placed the skillet on the stove after turning the burner on.

Remy walked over to where he had seen Rogue take the bread from the previous night, and he removed two pieces which he threw into the toaster. Turning back, he opened the egg carton and pulled out two eggs. He expertly cracked the two shells and allowed the contents of each to spill neatly on the warming skillet.

Remy tossed the eggshells into the nearby trashcan and moved back to the fridge. Opening it once more, he grabbed an opened half-gallon cardboard carton of milk, one of several similar cartons in the large fridge. He shook it and realized it was nearly half full.

Remy let the door to the fridge close, and he tweaked the end of the carton open. He tilted the open end above his mouth and began gulping mouthfuls as he turned back toward the stove. He stopped and lowered the carton and barely avoided accidentally spitting out his mouthful in surprise when he saw Rogue standing in the doorway.

She folded her arms, and a mock frown appeared on her face as she watched him swallow the milk in his mouth and quickly swipe at his lips with the back of his hand. "Ya better not be plannin' ta put that back in the fridge now. Ah bet Ororo'd just **love** t'hear yah've been drinkin' from the carton."

Remy's eyes widened behind his sunglasses, and he set the carton on the countertop. "Hey, now, let's not be too hasty dere. I'll finish it up with m'breakfast. Don't t'ink Stormy would be int'rested in dat information at all."

Rogue's grinned and she walked into the kitchen and pulled a stool from under the countertop and sat on it, leaning her elbows on the counter. "Didn' expect ya ta be up this early."

Remy leaned on the counter across from her, glancing at the skillet to check on the eggs. "Well, neither did I, but dat Doc of yours, Annie, was gettin' somet'ing from her office an' I woke up when de doors opened, so I figured why waste m'time tryin' to fall back to sleep? What're you doin' up dis early?"

Rogue propped her chin up on the palms of her hands. "Ah've got class at seven that Ah've gotta go to, an' Ah wanted ta get some breakfast before Ah went."

Remy glanced once more at his skillet. "How d'you like your eggs?"

"Um, usually sunny side up, why?" Rogue answered him.

Remy pushed himself away from the counter and grabbed a spatula, which he used to scrape the two eggs off the skillet and onto the plate before they cooked any further. He stepped across to the toaster-oven and pulled out the two browned pieces of toast he had put in it, and placed them on the plate.

Remy smiled and set the plate down in front of her. "Dere you go, toast and two eggs sunny-side up."

Rogue gave him a shy smile. "Really, Remy? But ya were makin' this for yahself. Ya should eat it."

"Well, you got only twenty minutes till y'class, an' I got all mornin' t'make myself breakfast. Now y'better eat up or de food'll get cold." Remy said. He moved back to the skillet and cracked two more eggs on it and let them begin to cook.

He leaned his elbows back on the counter and watched her begin to eat from behind his sunglasses. She dipped the toast into the runny yolk and whites of the egg after every bite. As she finished with the first piece of toast she reached out and snagged the carton of milk he'd been drinking from earlier and poured some into her mouth.

She set it down and saw him looking at her incredulously. "What? Ya'll thought ya big ol' men've got the copyright on that or somethin'?" She asked him, her eyes twinkling. "Ah was just givin' ya grief b'fore."

Remy barked out a laugh. "Well, ya sure got me den. I was wonderin' how t'run away from lightnin' bolts aimed at my ass if you tol' her I was drinkin' from de carton."

Rogue giggled – something Remy found himself wanting to hear from her often. "That'd be quite a sight. Ah'd pay t'see that."

Remy smirked. "My ass? _Dieu_, all y'have t'do is ask an' I'll let y'see it. I don' require money for dat. Now, if people wanna touch it or somet'ing, I charge unless de person doin' de touchin' is a _belle femme_."

Rogue blushed. "No, ya pervert. Ah meant Ah'd pay t'see Ororo launchin' lightnin' bolts at ya, 'specially when y'got such a dirty mind."

"Right, I'm sure dat's what you meant." Remy said with a wink.

Rogue rolled her eyes, took another bite of toast and said, "Thanks for makin' me breakfast by the way. Ya got the eggs ta a good consistency. Ah like it."

"No problem. In fact, I hear I should be thankin' you."

Rogue looked at him with a bewildered expression. "Thank me for what?"

"Well, Annie tol' me you been takin' care of me, stitchin' my shoulder an' changin' my bandages, my IV an' all dat. Said ya did all de hard work for her. So thanks. I owe ya," Remy said seriously.

Rogue turned near-scarlet. "Ah, it wasn't – Ah – Annie really tol' ya that?"

Remy nodded. "Oui. So, you int'rested in nursin'?"

Rogue shrugged, her face slowly returning to its normal color. "Yeah, Ah guess. Ah don't know, Ah just got into it a few weeks ago when a friend of ours died on a mission. She usedta be the nurse here, an' when Ah met Annie Ah started getting' interested in it." She glanced down at her plate, and even without focusing on his empathy he could feel embarrassment and disappointment from her radiating through the room. "Only, Ah think Annie an' Ah both know Ah'll never be able ta get serious about it an' actually go ta school for it or anythin' with mah power like it is."

"Don' talk like dat, Rogue. I'm promised ya I'd help you control y'powers. Den y'can go an' be a nurse or whatever you want. An' when I promise a _belle_ _femme_ like y'self somet'ing like dat, I keep it. Okay?"

Rogue nodded and smiled, feeling overjoyed that he'd been serious about helping her the previous night. While she knew the Professor was doing his best to help her, she didn't really feel like she was getting anywhere. Remy had been in her position before, and had the same type of power and had gone through the same lack of control, so he had personal experience that could possibly help her gain control over her own power.

Remy glanced at the clock, and said, "Hey, y'said you had class at seven, right?"

Rogue nodded and said, "Yeah, why?

"Well, now ya got only 'bout seven minutes."

Rogue's eyes snapped to the clock, and she gasped. She dragged her last bite of toast through the remaining egg and stuffed it into her mouth. She scrambled off the stool and rushed from the room with a quick backwards wave and a mumbled "See ya later!"

Remy smiled to himself and scraped the eggs he was cooking onto his plate. He set his plate next to the one Rogue had left behind in her rush, and sat down on a stool.

He straightened up as a tall, very muscular young man walked into the room. He stopped when he saw Remy sitting at the counter, and then walked over to him and extended a hand. "Hello, you must be that friend of Storm's I've been hearing about. I'm Piotr Rasputin."

"Bonjour, I'm Gambit. Nice ta meet you." Remy said, grasping his hand and shaking it firmly.

"So, are you feeling better? The stories that were circulating through the mansion ranged from you being near death with gunshot wounds to being deathly ill with some sort of disease, and everything in between depending on who you ask."

Gambit laughed. "Well, I did get shot an' was out of it a few days while I healed, but I don' t'ink it was anyt'ing close to 'near death'."

Piotr looked at him, surprised. "Your mutation is like Mister Logan's?" He quickly rephrased when Gambit looked at him in confusion. "He's kind of a professor here. He heals extremely fast – I heard once he got shot in the head and healed in like one or two minutes."

Gambit shrugged, the description not really matching the few he'd encountered since coming to the mansion. "Well, def'nitely not dat fast, but I can heal pretty quick. Got shot a few days ago an' I t'ink your nurse, Annie, I t'ink she's gonna take out my stitches later today."

Piotr nodded and then walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a box of cereal. He poured a heaping bowlful and took some milk from the refrigerator and poured it over the top.

"So, where are you from, Gambit?" He said, trying to strike up a longer conversation.

"Was born an'raised down in N'awlins. I've traveled 'round de country de past few years, an' I got a place down near D.C. dat I've been livin' in for a year now. How 'bout you?"

"Well, I was actually born in Russia, and my parents moved over around the time I turned one. Ever since then we've lived in Illinois. You know where Joliet is?"

Gambit nodded. "Yeah, just outside of Chicago. Drove through dere a few times t'get to de city."

"Well, I lived there until I got out of high school. My mutation developed about halfway through high school and eventually started developing too fast, so I came here after I graduated, to get some help. Professor Xavier – don't know if you've met him yet – actually came to my house and invited me to the school. Before that we had no idea where to go to get me some help."

Gambit shoveled the last of the eggs onto his fork and put them into his mouth as he looked almost wistfully at his plate. When he swallowed, he said, "Almost wish he could've come t'me. I had lots of trouble controlling m'powers, an' I had ta figure dem out on my own. But den dere's only so many people dat he can help at one time, an' de world's full of mutants dat need a lot more help den I did." He said with a shrug.

Piotr nodded. "Yeah, he can only do so much."

Gambit stood and grabbed both his plate and the one Rogue had left behind and took them over to the sink.

Piotr turned his head and asked. "What do you do for a living, Gambit?"

Gambit hid a grin, and talked over the noise of the faucet as he washed the two plates. "I'm actually a jeweler an' an art seller."

Piotr looked at him in surprise. "Really? I would've pegged you as some sort of professional gambler or a chess player or something with your name and all."

Gambit laughed. "Well, I do like t'gamble but I don' make a profession out of it. 'Sides, sometimes acquirin' t'ings and den hopin y'can sell dem for more can be a gamble itself. What d'you do or want t'do when y'get outta school?"

Piotr actually looked somewhat embarrassed. "Well, don't laugh, but I'd really like to be a professional artist. I love drawing and painting pretty much anything."

Gambit shrugged. "I ain' gonna laugh _mon ami_. If dat's what you like an' what you're good at den go for it."

Piotr looked at him sheepishly. "Thanks. I'm just used to people thinking I should get into basketball or something because I am tall, or get into some sort of science or engineering. They usually don't think of me being an artist."

Remy finished cleaning the two plates and grabbed a towel and dried them off before he placed them back into the cabinet. He turned back to Piotr. "Hey, Piotr, d'you know if Storm is awake yet?"

Piotr nodded. "Yeah, she's usually awake by now. She's going to be in class in about an hour, but she should be up. In fact I'm surprised she hasn't come to get breakfast yet."

"Thanks. I'm gonna try t'find her, so if she comes here, tell her I was lookin' for her."

"Alright," Piotr said as Gambit walked toward the doorway of the kitchen, "Nice meeting you Gambit."

"Same t'you, Piotr," Gambit said.

* * *

Gambit walked slowly down the hall, wondering if he should attempt to find Ororo, or just wait around until she showed up, when spotted a familiar shock of long white hair appear as Storm walked down the stairs.

"Remy!" Storm said. "I didn't expect to see you up this early. I take it from you not having your IV that Annie already checked you out? Or did you just take it out yourself?"

Remy grinned at her. "Non, Stormy, Annie already gave me a checkup."

"Well, are you feeling better today?"

Remy nodded. "Oui. An' I just ate some breakfast. Finally startin' t'feel some energy come back."

"Good." Ororo said, and then grabbed his shoulders and yanked him into a firm hug. "You scared me Remy. I'm so glad you're all right. I thought I was gonna lose you," she whispered into his ear, her voice breaking on her last sentence. She felt tears of relief come to her eyes.

Remy held her in his arms and rubbed her back when he heard her sniffle quietly. "S'okay _ma soeur_. I ain' dat easy t'get rid of."

Ororo let out a watery laugh and rested her forehead on his shoulder. "You'd better be planning on telling me what you've been up to." She put her mouth to his ear. "And what trouble you've gotten into for that wad of hundreds in your trenchcoat."

Remy signed resignedly. "I know, Stormy. I'll tell ya later – it's a long story. Sorry I ain' been callin' ya lately. An' sorry I scared you."

Ororo pulled back and looked up at his face. "It's okay Remy. I've been so busy I haven't been able to call you either."

Remy reached out and swiped away a tear that had fallen down her cheek. "Annie tells me y'already got a room ready for me. You still tryin' t'get me to stay here?"

Ororo's eyes fell to the floor. "Well, I was kind of hoping you had come to stay. But if you just came for some help, you know I'll help you with anything."

Remy grinned down at her and reached up to chuck her affectionately under the chin. "Jus' playin' wit' ya Stormy. I was comin' here t'see you an' check dis place outb'fore I got shot. I been t'inkin' of takin' you up on y'offer for a while."

A smile made its way onto Ororo's face. "Well then, let me show you your room before I have to go teach my class." Ororo said, grabbing his hand and leading him toward the elevator.

The elevator stopped on the third floor, and she led him to a room toward the eastern end of the hall. She opened the door and let him walk in. The room was about the same size and layout as hers, and had a door that opened up onto a small balcony.

Remy sat on the bed, leaning his back against the headboard. "Nice room, Stormy."

Ororo sat down near the foot of the bed. "Glad you like it. I talked to Professor Xavier and the room is yours if you do want to stay. On one condition."

"What's dat?"

"You tell me what happened. Charles needs to know if there's any danger to the students from whoever tried to kill you."

Remy sighed and leaned his head back, removing his sunglasses. "Non, dere's no danger now. Long story short, I took a job an' my employer paid me half upfront. Dat's de money dat was in my coat. I did de job, an' I was headin' out to see you an' check dis place out for a friend of mine dat's havin' problems wit' their powers, an' maybe take y'up on your offer for myself. Guess my employer didn' want someone out dere dat knew about de job he pulled, an' hired an assassin."

"Dey shot me while I was ridin' my motorcycle over a bridge on a long straight stretch of road – musta been wit' a sniper rifle – an' I went inta a river. Stayed under for a while – an' y'know how long I can hold m'breath – until dey figgered I was dead. Damn waste of a fine bike." Remy said, shaking his head in regret. "Dey t'ink I'm dead an' I'm fine leavin' it dat way, so ev'ryone here ain' gonna be in danger."

Storm waited quietly for several moments, and realized he was struggling with deciding whether or not to tell her the entire story of why his employer had wanted him dead. She patted his knee. "It's okay Remy. You can tell me the details later when you're ready. As long as we don't have to worry about someone hunting you down here, that's all I need to know now. And your friend is welcome here if he or she wants to come."

Remy nodded gratefully to her, glad for her understanding of him.

Ororo placed her hands on her knees and stood up. "I'll let you get settled in. All of your stuff is over on the dresser, and I went out and got you some new clothes. I have to get back downstairs and grab something to eat before class. I'll be done at around noon, so you behave yourself until then, okay?"

Remy rolled his eyes. "Okay Stormy. You make it sound like I'm gonna run around de mansion stealin' everyt'ing I can find."

Ororo looked back at him with a raised eyebrow. "And that would be unusual for you how?"

Remy grinned back at her. "Well, you got a point dere. Don' worry Stormy, I'm too tired to go stealin'."

"Okay, Remy. I'll see you around lunchtime."

* * *

Remy forced himself upright off the bed as Ororo walked out the door. He walked over to the dresser where Ororo had neatly folded his trenchcoat. He grabbed it and tossed it onto the bed.

Remy first removed the collapsed bo staff and set it on a nightstand near his bedside that was occupied only by a small lamp and an alarm clock. Remy grabbed the bundle of bills that Ororo had discovered and set it on the bed.

He grabbed several pouches from various hidden pockets, and unzipped each, making sure his lock pick kit and other tools of the trade were all intact. He then pulled out a slim plastic case. He popped it open and sighed in relief when he saw his cigarettes inside had remained dry during his watery plunge. '_Guess they told the truth about it being airtight_,' he thought to himself.

Remy ran his hands along the inside of the coat to check on several concealed throwing spikes – double pointed _bo-shuriken_ around five inches long – he kept as a backup if he ran out of cards to charge. He had fastened them in tight Velcro loops to make for easy and quick removal, but when he felt only two of his usual four, he realized it had made it easier for them to get lost in his fall.

Remy pulled out two packs of cards and shuffled through them. One deck was warped from water exposure, and he tossed it into a garbage can, but the second had still been wrapped up in its cellophane packaging, and when he tore it off and shuffled through the cards he saw that it had kept them dry. He slid the deck into the pocket of his jeans, glad that he still had a set to use.

Finally he reached the pocket he had been dreading, and pulled out a thin cell-phone. He flipped open the cover and attempted to turn it on, but nothing happened. He pried open the battery cover, and groaned when a small trickle of water emerged. "Fuck!" He knew that with water infiltrating that far that the phone was ruined. He squinted into the battery compartment and gently removed the SIM card, so he could keep his data and put it into a new phone, and placed it on the nightstand.

Remy picked up the bundle of hundreds and peeled several out, which he pocketed. He replaced most of the rest in his trenchcoat and placed the trenchcoat back on the dresser, but he folded several bills and placed them in the battery compartment of his phone - tossing the ruined battery into the trash can - and then replaced the battery cover and placed the phone under the soil of the potted plant that sat near his balcony. From his experience as a thief, he would never keep all of his valuables in the same place if he could help it: no sense making it easy for another thief.

Remy stepped over to a low dresser across from the bed. A television set and a cordless telephone rested on top of it. He grabbed the telephone, grateful that he wouldn't have to wander the mansion in search of one, and carried it over to the bed. He leaned against the headboard, and dialed his brother's number.

The other end rang three times before it was picked up and a smooth baritone voice answered. "Hello, dis is Henri."

"Oh, really? Damn, I thought dis was de number for a phone sex hotline." Remy said.

"Remy? Thank God you're alright!" Henri said, sounding relieved. "What the hell have you been doing? You haven't called in days!"

"Sorry. You were right. Dey sent someone after me."

"Are you alright?"

"_Oui_. Now at least."

"Did you take care of him?" Henri asked.

"_Non._ I played dead. Not dat hard t'do wit two bullets in me an' fallin' in a river an' all. He'll report back dat he took me out, so we're safe now."

"_Dieu_, Remy you were _shot_?_**Again**__?_"

"Yeah, de coward had ta sit back wit' a sniper rifle an' couldn' take me on man to man. Lucky I was gettin' a sore ass an' was movin' around on my bike seat right den – only got me in de shoulder an' de stomach."

Henry sighed heavily. "Damn, Remy. You healin' up?"

"_Oui_. Made it to Stormy's place b'fore I passed out. Dey got a damn sweet little private hospital here. Been out of it de past three days an' jus' woke up last night. Already almost back to normal."

"Good. Well, glad you called. Was wonderin' if I'd hafta take care of Sarah without you."

Remy's voice became tense. "How is she?"

"She's been a mess since de first day y' didn' give us a call. Tears in her eyes anytime she thinks about you. She's been hidin' away in her room de past few days, an' ain' been eatin' much, an' she don' do much besides sit on her bed or stare out de window. I been worried about her."

Remy sighed heavily. "Damn. I thought she might not be doin' well. Can I talk to her?"

"Yeah, I'll take y' to her," Henri said.

Remy heard the outside noise for a minute as Henri carried the phone from wherever he was over to Sarah's room.

Remy heard him knock on her door, and a muffled voice answer. He heard Henri open the door, and say "Hey dere Sarah. I got someone dat wants to talk to y'."

Remy could hear a sudden rustling of sheets and the phone being fumbled with. "R-Remy?" Sarah's soft voice came over the phone.

"Hey _petite_, you been a good girl for Henri for me?"

"Yeah, Remy." Sarah said, her voice trembling. Then Remy heard a sob over the phone. "I-I thought you left me or you were dead like ev'ryone down in the tunnels. I thought I'd n-never see you again." She said, sobbing openly.

Remy felt his heart break. "Sarah, I ain' gonna leave you," he said, his own voice becoming husky. "I'm sorry I scared you _petite_. I hadta take care of somet'ing so de men from de tunnels can't ever hurt you again, you understand? I'm at dat school I was tellin' you about now, an' I'm gonna talk wit' de main professor here an' see if he can help ya."

"Y-you're gonna come back here?" Sarah asked him quietly her sobs died down.

"Of course, _ma mignonne_. I'll be back soon as I can."

"Will you call us every day again?"

"Yeah. How 'bout dis – I'll call you ev'ry day right at dis time, an' if I don' call ya, you make Henri call me 'til I pick up. How's dat sound?"

Sarah sniffled quietly. "Okay, Remy. Please come back soon. I miss ya."

"I miss ya too _petite_. Be good for Henri for me, an' eat somet'ing for me. You won' do y'self any good not eatin'. I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"

"Alright Remy. Here's Uncle Henri," she said.

There was another rustling as the phone was handed back to Henri. "Hey."

"I'll come see you two prob'ly in a week. I tol' Sarah dat I'll call dis time ev'ry day, an' if I don' she's supposed to get you t'call me 'till I pick up. Cell phone got ruined an' I probably won't be able t'get another for a day or two, so call me back here. You got paper?"

"Yeah, jus' a minute." A small amount of time passed, and then Henri said, "Okay, I'm ready."

Remy walked over to the handset charger, and glanced at the phone number listed on it. "Jus' call 914-555-4865. Dey've got diff'rent extensions. Mine's 4023, an' y'should be able t'get to de main line if I don' answer."

"'Kay. Hope Sarah'll start eatin' an' getting back t'normal now dat she knows y' okay. She really cares 'bout you Remy."

"I know. Don' know how I got 'tached to her so quick but I feel de same way 'bout her."

"Aw, Remy, we both know y' got a soft spot for pretty _femmes_. Dey always get y' wrapped around their little finger." Henri laughed. "Now y' take care of y'self, an' no more getting shot. Seems like y' tryin' t'break de record for getting' shot de most in a month or somet'ing."

"I'll try. Talk t'you tomorrow, _mon frère_."

"G'bye, _petit frère_." Henri replied, and Remy heard the click on the other end of the line.

Remy set the handset on the dresser and slouched down until he was lying on the bed. He felt emotionally drained, and he was surprised when he realized the front of his shirt was wet. He reached up and felt tear tracks still moist on his cheeks, and he realized he must have been crying right along with Sarah and hadn't even realized it.

'_Dieu_,' he thought, placing his forehead in his palms, '_can't stand that I hurt her like that, even if I couldn't have helped it. Henri's right, she's already got a hold of my heart_."

He settled himself on the bed and set his watch, which had survived the river by being waterproof, to wake him up in a few hours and then let himself doze.

* * *

_A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed it._

_Next Chap, Remy begins to meet more of the denizens of the mansion._


	5. Chapter 5: Acclimation: Afternoon

_**Disclaimer: X-men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So please don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway. ;)**_

A/N: Here's the next chapter. Thanks for the reviews/feedback last chapter. Please, R&R.

**Chapter 5: Acclimation - Afternoon**

* * *

Bobby hurried out of the room as class ended, trying to catch up with Rogue, who had sat at the back of the room away from most of the other students. "Rogue!" He called after her.

He walked faster, pushing past two other students, and caught up with her. "Rogue, wait up." He said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Please, I just want to talk."

She shrugged his hand off and turned to face him, but he was grateful she actually stayed to listen to him.

"Rogue," he said, once the other students moved past them and the hallway was left deserted. "I just want to say I'm sorry."

Rogue looked at him with a surprised expression, obviously not having expected this from him. "W-what?"

"I'm sorry for everything that's gone on in the past few days. I'm sorry for breaking our time together for homework, and I'm sorry for the stupid things I've said. I'm always opening my big mouth and saying something stupid."

Rogue's lips twisted into a slight grin. "Ya can say that again."

Bobby sighed. "I- Rogue, what you heard the other day, that didn't come out the way I meant it. I don't think you or your powers are useless or that you can't defend yourself. It's just, your power is so different than what most of us have, other than Logan. We can defend ourselves from a distance but you need to be close up for your power to work, and that worries me because it means it's more likely that someone can hurt you, and you can't heal like Logan or phase out like Kitty or turn to metal like Piotr. I know Logan's been teaching you stuff, but that doesn't stop me from being worried about you."

Rogue's eyes softened, and she placed a hand on his arm. "Ah know ya didn' mean it, Bobby, it jus' hurt t'hear what Ah'm always thinkin'. An' Ah'm sorry too, for overreactin' with the whole homework thing an' ev'rythin' afterwards. I feel like I've been such a big, nasty bitch to ya lately."

Bobby tentatively reached out and pulled her into a hug, and whispered to her. "It's okay. I'm pretty sure I deserved everything you dished out to me."

He pulled back and looked down into her warm brown eyes. "Rogue. I was thinking."

"Well, that's a first." She said, her eyes dancing merrily.

"Hey, not nice! I was thinking that we haven't really done anything together since Alkali and I thought it'd be nice if we went on a date or something. I was thinking maybe a picnic some afternoon, just the two of us, out on the grounds."

A smile appeared on Rogue's face. "Ah'd like that. How about tomorrow? Ah've got a session with the Professor in the morning, but the rest of the day Ah've got nothin'."

Bobby smiled. "Tomorrow sounds great. I'll make us lunch and we can spend the afternoon outside."

"Ah think that sounds good. I think we need somethin' like this for us."

Bobby hugged her once more, and let out a deep sigh. He was relieved she had heard him out and forgiven him, and that she still wanted to at least attempt to keep their relationship going.

"I've gotta go now, Rogue. I have to talk to Professor Xavier, but after that I was going to grab lunch with Piotr, Kitty, and Jubes, so if you want to join us, I think we were going to hang out in the living room."

"Alright. Annie wanted some help with somethin' so I'm gonna head down ta the med lab, but Ah don't think it'll take too long."

"Okay, I'll see you in a bit then," Bobby said, and carefully kissed her on the top of the head. He backed up and moved around her down the hall toward Xavier's office.

Rogue felt like an enormous weight had been lifted off her shoulders as the tensions that had built between her and Bobby melted away. She was amazed that he'd taken the initiative and apologized to her, but glad that he was willing to try to keep their relationship going. '_This'll be our test_,' she thought, _'If this doesn't turn out well, I'll end it_.'

She didn't want both of them to be trapped in a relationship that was deteriorating, and didn't want to stay together and end up with a nasty breakup but instead an amicable one where they could remain friends afterwards. She'd seen too many couples in high school in Mississippi that had broken up and never talked to one another, friends of the couple would be forced to choose "sides", and it was something she never wanted to happen to them.

Rogue stuffed her hands in her pockets and walked down the hallway. She punched the call button for the elevator, and took it to the third floor. As she walked toward her room to put her books inside, she saw the person she had been planning to look for.

From one of the rooms at the end of the hall, she saw Remy shuffle out of the doorway. He yawned widely and when he saw her, he quickly put a hand over his mouth to stifle the yawn. She could tell he'd been sleeping from his mussed-up hair and rumpled clothing.

"G'mornin', sleepy-head, Ah was just gonna look for ya," Rogue called down the hall as she opened the door to her room. She tossed her books onto her bed and closed the door again.

Remy strolled casually in her direction. "Bonjour again. You have fun in class?"

Rogue rolled her eyes. "If ya call Physics an' Calc fun, then yeah."

Remy winced. "Guess not den. Glad t'be finished wit' all dat crap."

"Ya already out of college? How old are ya?" Rogue asked in surprise. '_Does he just look young?_' She wondered to herself.

"Twennyone. Went to community college an' got out in under two years 'cuz I did some courses my last year of high school."

"Oh, alright, Ah was pretty sure ya weren't much older than me. Ah'm nineteen, an' this is mah first full year. Ah did some stuff in high school too b'fore mah power came out."

"Dey do college stuff here?"

"Yeah, we take most of our classes here, but some of them are from another college nearby an' we do 'em online."

"Bet dat's pretty nice. Dat way you can take classes wit' people, wit' mutants, dat you know an' dat understand you 'stead of wit' some of de bigots dat are out dere. Hadta deal wit' dat myself a few times. Xavier's got a good t'ing goin' here."

He leaned against the wall next to her, and then asked, "So, y'said you was lookin' for me. Y'miss me already?"

Rogue smiled. "Ah was lookin' for ya 'cuz Annie wanted me ta get ya when Ah got outta class."

"Ah, t'get dese t'ings outta me," he said, touching his abdomen over his bandages.

"Yeah, she said you'd probably be ready for 'em t'come out." Rogue said, calling the elevator once again.

As the elevator traveled downward, Remy jabbed a finger at the Basement Level 2 button. "What's down dere?"

"Um, there's pretty much only the Danger Room which is a place where we usually train with our powers, an' a conference room down there - has Ororo given you a tour yet?"

"_Non_, she only showed me my room an' den she had t'get to class."

They stepped out of the elevator. "Well, Ah can give ya a tour of the place after Ah eat lunch if ya want."

Remy smiled at her. "Dat'd be nice." He stood at the sliding door of the med lab and extended his arm out toward the entrance, bowing with an exaggerated flourish. "After you," he said.

Rogue smiled and walked past him. Annie, who had heard the door open, walked out of her office. "Thanks for getting him for me Rogue."

She looked over to Remy and gestured at an examination table. "Hop up on there and take your shirt off for me. I think we should at least be able to remove the stitches in your shoulder."

Remy sat on the table and pulled the shirt over his head, and tossed it onto the table beside him. Annie moved up to him and peeled the taped gauze from his skin, revealing his stitches. She looked over both of his wounds, pressing her fingers gently near the edges to check how much they had healed.

She turned her head to Rogue who stood behind her. "Ready to learn how to remove stitches?"

Rogue nodded eagerly and moved forward next to her. Annie grabbed a tweezers and a small scissors from a drawer. "Alright, it's really pretty simple. All you really do is snip the suture on one side of the knot, and then pull on it from the knot side until it comes out. Make sure you pull the knot side first so you aren't yanking the knot through the wound," she said, demonstrating by pulling the suture slightly up with the tweezers, snipping the surgical thread, and smoothly pulling it out. "Just like that."

Remy barely felt even a tugging at his skin, and was actually very impressed at how easily she had done it. '_Then again, it's usually Henri or me that are yanking them out,_' he thought.

Annie passed the scissors and tweezers to Rogue and placed a hand on her back, pushing her closer to Remy. "Now you try."

Rogue let out a breath and moved her face closer to his suture. She pulled it up and placed the scissors near the knot. "Like this?" Rogue asked, looking up at Annie.

Annie leaned closer and moved the scissors to the left. "Right here, as close to the knot as you can. That way if the wound opens a bit, the knot won't get pulled into the skin and you can still pull it out."

Annie placed her hands on either side of the wound, ensuring that if it did open both sides would remain in place. Rogue carefully snipped the suture, and began to pull it from his skin. She didn't realize her hands were shaking with nervousness until she heard Remy hiss in pain as it was pulled completely from him.

She quickly backed away from him. "Ah'm sorry Remy."

She handed the scissors and tweezers back to Annie. "Maybe you should do it. Ah'll just hurt him."

Annie shook her head and pressed the tools back into Rogue's hand. "You're doing fine, Rogue. You're just a little nervous doing this your first time." She said, looking hopefully at Remy for his own encouragement for Rogue.

Rogue reluctantly held the tools and looked up at Remy. He smiled warmly at her. "You can do dis, Rogue. An' b'lieve me, dat hurt a lot less den when I get my _frère_ t'take out stitches from me. He's got g'rilla hands when it comes t'dat."

A weak smile flitted across Rogue's face and she let out another breath. She moved closer once again and looked closely at the last suture. She moved the scissors next to the knot like Annie had shown her, and snipped the suture.

Rogue set down the scissors and moved the tweezers into place. This time she noticed immediately that her hands were still shaking. She glared at them, willing them to still themselves, but they kept shaking, and she let out a sigh of frustration.

She was startled when one of Remy's hands enveloped her gloved hand that held the tweezers. Her eyes darted upward to look at him, and he looked down at her with a grin and squeezed her hand. "Hey, relax. It ain' de end of de world. Jus' a little piece of thread."

She was surprised to see her hand was no longer shaking in his grip. She moved her fingers and grasped the thread with the tweezers and pulled slowly from his skin.

Once it was completely out, Remy slowly released her hand. "See? Tol' ya you could do it. Didn' hurt a bit."

Annie smiled gratefully at Remy over Rogue's shoulder, and mouthed "Thank you," to him.

Annie moved back and placed a hand on Rogue's shoulder. "That was excellent Rogue. I'm going to grab some isopropyl; why don't you remove the sutures in his abdomen while I'm doing that?"

* * *

Bobby walked down the hall of the basement after getting Professor Xavier's approval on a subject for the paper that was due in two weeks in their Ethics class.

He walked the entrance to the Med Lab and looked in through the doors to see if Rogue was still there. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Annie and Rogue next to a man he'd never seen before. '_Must be that Gambit dude that Kitty was talking about_.' He thought.

He was about to call out to Rogue until he saw the man reach up and cup her hands, and give her a charming grin. He stood frozen, and his only thoughts were, 'this _creep's putting the moves on my girlfriend_.'

He felt jealousy well up in his chest when the man didn't let go of her and squeezed her hand. '_Who the hell does he think he is, pawing Rogue like that_?' Bobby thought angrily.

Just as Bobby was about to burst into the room, Piotr's earlier comment echoed in his head and stopped him dead: 'Right now a big part of the problem between you two is that you don't think before you open your mouth, Bobby.'

Bobby closed his eyes. He knew Piotr was right and he knew if he ran into the room storming about what he'd seen, he'd ruin everything he'd just worked for to get back with Rogue, and probably end up in another fight. '_Besides, it looks like she's got scissors in her hand there. Don't think she'd be too happy if I burst in and she accidentally stabbed the guy_,' he thought.

After Rogue finished whatever she had been doing on the man's arm, Annie walked away to a cabinet on the other side of the room, and Rogue bent down to what looked like a wound on the man's abdomen.

Bobby chose that moment to interrupt.

"Hey Rogue," Bobby called loudly from the doorway.

Rogue jumped, and looked to the doorway. "Bobby! Don't scare me like that when Ah'm trying to take out stitches!" She said breathlessly.

"Sorry, I was just checking on you and if you were still going to eat lunch with us."

"Um, yeah. Ah'll be done in a bit. Why don' you head on up an' Ah'll meet y'all up there?"

Bobby looked uncertainly at her, and shifted uncomfortably as the man on the table stared at him behind dark, mirrored sunglasses. He was almost certain he was glaring at him. Bobby finally nodded, and turned. "Alright, I'll tell everyone you're coming so they don't eat without you." He called over his shoulder.

Rogue moved back to Remy's abdomen and began to remove the first suture. Remy's momentary disgruntled feelings quickly evaporated, and he found himself having to shift uncomfortably on the table when his body began to react to Rogue's warm breath and gloved hands on his skin. '_Dieu_,' he thought to himself, '_Not usually this trigger happy. I hardly even know the girl. Guess the fact that she's fricking gorgeous, and breathing on my stomach might have something to do with it, but still.'' _

Rogue swatted him on the arm, completely unaware of his discomfort. "Sit still," she commanded, "It's bad enough Ah hurt ya 'cuz my hands were shakin'. Ah don' need you squirmin' all over th'place an' makin' it worse."

Remy clenched his jaw. "Sorry." He breathed a mental sigh of relief when the last stitch was removed and she backed away.

Annie handed Rogue a small bottle of rubbing alcohol and an application pad. "Here, you clean up his shoulder I'll clean the other wound. The last thing we want is germs getting in there, especially when it's closing up so fast.

Remy had cooled down enough to joke when the two swabbed his wounds. "Well, if I'da known dat getting' shot meant I got ta have pretty girls runnin' their hands all over me, I'd've gotten shot ev'ry week. Dat'd be de life"

He was pleased to see that both Rogue and Annie blushed at his statement.

Annie stepped back and looked at him. "Well, if you do that, I'm sure Ororo'll shoot you herself for making her worry."

Remy laughed. "Yeah, she probably would."

Once the alcohol evaporated completely, Annie put new bandages over the wounds. "Now, try not to get these wet. If you do, take them off and put dry ones on, because bacteria love to thrive in warm and wet areas and you'll end up with an infection. Other than that, I'd say you're good to go. From your rate of healing I think you can take those bandages off by tomorrow or the day after at the latest."

Remy nodded and pulled his shirt back over his head. "_Merci beaucoup_, _ma jolie infirmières_." Remy said, nodding his thanks to both women.

"_De rien_." Rogue said in hesitant French. In high school she'd taken French one year, German another, and Spanish a third year to satisfy the three language credit requirements for graduation, but French had been her Freshman class and she remembered very little of it besides the basics.

Remy grinned widely at her. "Very good."

"Thanks," she said, smiling back. "That's about all Ah know besides things like greetings and countin' to a hundred." She blushed then, "An' of course how t'curse. Ah took French back in ninth grade, for a year."

"Better den nothin'. An' it's always good t'know how t'cuss someone out without them even knowin' it." He replied.

Rogue glanced at the door and then back to Remy. "Ah better get goin' ta lunch. Ya wanna come eat with me an' mah friends, Remy?"

"Sure. Ify'don' t'ink dey'd mind. Be nice to get t'know some more people 'round here."

He started to stand up, but Rogue stood in front of him and placed a hand on his chest. Annie moved back toward her office silently, sensing she should leave the two alone.

"Remy," Rogue said softly, "It's gloomy out an' it's gonna rain soon outside, an' the lights in here aren't very bright. Ah don' think ya need these, do ya?" She asked, reaching up and touching his sunglasses.

Remy's shoulders sank in resignation, and when he made no move to stop her, she slid them from his face and folded them before slipping one arm of the frame behind the collar of her shirt so they hung from her neck. "I'll keep 'em for ya."

Remy looked at her uncertainly, and she patted his shoulder. "Ya don' need ta hide anythin' Remy. We're all mutant's here, an' y'eyes aren' gonna freak us out like they might other people. They'll accept ya no matter how ya look. Heck, we got a little girl that looks like a cat, a kid that can turn into a wolf, an' an acrobat that's got blue skin and a tail. Red'n'black eyes ain' gonna even phase 'em," she said. "Trust me."

"Alrigh'," he said reluctantly, "but if dey do get creeped out, ya gotta give 'em back t'me."

Rogue smiled. "Deal. Now let's go. I'm starved."

She grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the infirmary. She dragged him to the end of the hallway and he followed her up the stairs.

* * *

There were a few students sitting at tables in the kitchen when they entered. Rogue grabbed a loaf of bread and peeled out two slices and set them on a plate. She grabbed a knife and a jar of peanut butter and spread it on the bread.

Remy followed suit with his own sandwich as Rogue spread jelly onto the other slice of bread. Remy opened the cabinet he'd seen Rogue use the other night, and pulled out a bottle of honey, which he drizzled over the peanut butter.

Rogue looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" He asked. "You never eaten peanut butter and honey b'fore?"

Rogue shook her head. "No, never thought of that combination."

"Well, y'should try it. Taste's great. Wanna trade?"

Rogue looked down at her sandwich and back to Remy. "Alright," she said, handing him her plate.

Rogue grabbed a soda from the fridge and tossed one to Remy. She grabbed his arm again and tugged him from the room. He managed to snag two individual bags of chips off of the countertop with his partially free hand that was holding the soda as she pulled him past. "C'mon, we're meetin' in the livin' room." She said, leading him down the hall to the doors he'd heard the television blaring from the night before.

Rogue let go of his arm and pushed the door, which was slightly ajar, open all the way and entered the room. Remy followed closely behind her, and saw that the room had couches and recliner chairs scattered throughout, with a large plasma-screen television against one wall. A half-dozen other people were already in the room.

Several looked up as Rogue entered. The young man he'd seen down in the med lab – Bobby if he remembered correctly what Rogue had said – smiled as Rogue entered, but his smile dimmed when he saw Remy behind her.

"Hey Rogue." He called to her, causing the rest of them to look up.

Rogue stepped to the side and next to Remy. "Hey ev'ryone. Ah'd like ya'll to meet R-Gambit," she said, correcting herself when she remembered her discussion with Ororo about Remy's name.

Remy nodded to the group and set his plate, soda, and chips down on an end-table. Rogue inclined her head to him and he moved closer to her and the others. "This is Kitty," she said, gesturing to a pretty young brunette who put down a sandwich and rose halfway to shake his hand.

Remy took her hand and bent his head over it to hover his lips over her knuckles. "_Bonjour_."

Rogue turned to a young Native American woman, who had her long black hair pulled into two braids, on either side of her head, which hung down her back. "This's Danielle."

Danielle smiled and offered her own hand, blushing when he bent over it as he had to Kitty. "You can call me Dani."

"Nice t'meet you Dani."

A young Chinese-American girl who wore a bright yellow shirt, red leather choker, and golden hoop earrings dangling from her ears was sitting next to Dani and she too offered him her hand. "I'm Jubilee."

Rogue gestured to a young blond haired man who appeared to be one of the youngest of the group. "This here's Sam Guthrie. He's new here too, only been here a few weeks."

Sam smiled widely and shook Gambit's hand. "Y'better not be thinkin' 'bout kissin' my hand too."

Gambit grinned back him. "Non, don' worry 'bout dat. Y'ain' pretty enough."

Sam laughed. "Good point. Nice t'see Rogue an' I ain' the only Southerner's 'round here now."

Gambit saw Rogue roll her eyes at the two of them, trying to hide a grin. She pointed to the tall, dark haired young man he'd met earlier in the morning. "This is –"

"Piotr," Gambit interrupted, giving him a jaunty salute and receiving a friendly nod in return. "We met dis mornin'."

Piotr nodded. "Did you end up finding Ororo? She never came down for breakfast before I went off to class."

"Yeah, found her. She showed me to de room she set up."

The last person, the one he'd seen earlier in the Med Lab moved forward, extending a hand. "I'm Rogue's boyfriend," he said pointedly, "Bobby Drake. Iceman."

Remy quirked an eyebrow, and shook his hand. "Iceman? Why y'called dat? Y'shoot icecubes outta yer eyes or someti'ng?"

Bobby's eyes flashed in irritation and he gripped Remy's hand harder and suddenly the moisture in the air around their hands crystallized into a thin frosty layer on their hands.

Gambit let go and shook the ice crystals from his hand. He nodded to Bobby. "Bet dat's a useful t'ing t'be able t'do. Nice t'meet you, Iceboy."

Rogue touched Remy's shoulder breaking up any further "discussion" between the two. "Ah'm hungry, aren' you guys?"

Sam cleared his throat, having noticed the tension between the two men. "Yeah Rogue. **Most** of us were waiting for you," he said, and shot a mock glare at Kitty who had already eaten most of her lunch.

"Hey, don't look at me like that." She said, and glanced to Rogue. "Sorry, I didn't have any breakfast, and I was starving."

Rogue sat down on a couch a few feet away from Kitty and the other girls, and Remy grabbed his food and sat down next to her. "Naw, that's fine, Kitty. What're you guy's watchin'?" Rogue asked, nodding to the television set which was displaying a commercial for car insurance.

"The news." Jubilee piped up. "There's not really much else on right now."

Remy handed Rogue one of the bags of chips he'd grabbed, and she smiled at him in thanks. Remy popped open his soda and took a sip, sitting back to watch Rogue try her sandwich.

He smiled as she took a bite and her eyes widened. She swallowed her mouthful and looked at him. "Wow, this is actually really good… Gambit. Ah like it."

Piotr looked over at her curiously. "What's that?"

"Oh, he made me a peanut butter and honey sandwich because I've never tried it before. It tastes great…." She paused when she felt something hit her glove, and when she looked down she saw honey seeping out the bottom, drizzling onto her fingers. "Messy though," she said and set down the sandwich to lick what she could from her fingers.

Sam laughed at her attempts. "Ah think ya'll need to keep a spare set of gloves for lunch from now on if y'start eatin' that. Gotta say they're pretty good, but nuthin' c'n beat peanut butter and mayonnaise."

Kitty made a choking sound. "Oh my God, that's disgusting. Please, I just ate, I don't need to even think about that."

"Oh, c'mon, just 'cuz y'don't like mayo doesn't mean y'have ta act like you're gonna barf or somethin'" Sam retorted.

Kitty closed her eyes. "Besides the fact that I hate the smell and taste of mayo, you know I'm a vegetarian, Sam. I don't eat egg products. Please, can we talk about something else?"

Jubilee interrupted. "Since we're talking about food, what do you guys think Ororo's going to make for supper tomorrow? I know it's Professor Summer's turn to take care of it, but she's been doing it for him lately."

Remy leaned forward to look at her on the other couch. "You guys have the teachers here make supper for you ev'ry night?"

Dani shook her head. "Not every night, only Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Each time a different person gets supper for the students."

Remy's eyebrows raised. "Sounds nice."

"It usually is, 'specially not having to worry about it ourselves," Jubilee said.

* * *

As everyone finished eating their lunch, the weather forecast came on, causing Bobby to shush everyone.

An attractive blonde woman was standing in front of the Futurecast, which showed warm temperatures until the end of the weekend.

Bobby smiled, and glanced over to Rogue. '_Perfect weather for us to spend the afternoon outside_,' he thought to himself.

Jubilee set aside her plate and got up, walking over to the couch Remy and Rogue sat at, and sank into the cushions next to Remy.

"So Gambit, tell us something about yourself. What brings you here to the mansion?" She asked, pulling her legs up onto the couch and wrapping her arms around her legs.

Remy swallowed his mouthful and glanced around and noticed that everyone had turned their gazes to him. He cleared his throat and shrugged. "Well, I mainly came here to visit Ororo. We're good friends an' she tol' me I could stop by anytime. I'm checkin' dis place out for a friend of mine dat's got problems controllin' their powers, an' I was kinda t'inking of stayin' around here, at least for a bit."

"You need help with your powers too, or just your friend?"

"Non, I got 'em under control now, took quite a while back when dey popped out though. You guys might not realize it, but I'd say y'all are pretty lucky dat you got a place like dis, where everyone knows what you're going through an' help y'deal with it. Wish dere was more places like dis."

He glanced at each of their faces. "So, I already know Iceboy's powers, what 'bout de rest of ya? What can y'all do?"

Sam was the first to speak up. "Well, Ah've got this blast field thing, a "thermo-chemical energy field" I think Prof Xavier calls it. Ah can pretty much put this energy shield around my body, and blast energy out of my feet enough to fly around. Been workin' with Xavier an' I've been gettin' some control to blast it outta my hands if I really concentrate."

Sam glanced to the side to Piotr who shrugged. "I can turn my body to metal," he said. He squinted and his skin shifted and reformed into a shiny metallic surface.

Remy looked at him in curiosity as he allowed himself to shift back to his flesh-and-blood form. "Can ya move around like dat?"

"Yeah, I pretty much turn into a sort of organic steel. I can move about the same as I do now, maybe just a bit slower because I gain a lot of mass when I turn to metal."

Remy looked to his left at the girls of the group. Kitty smiled at him and then gave him a shock when she moved her hand _through_ the arm of the couch. "I can phase myself through things. I've been working with the professor and learning how to phase other objects and other people with me."

'_Damn,_' Remy thought, '_That'd be the perfect power for a thief like me_.'

He shifted his eyes to Danielle, who looked embarrassed. "Well, my power's not really all that great like any of theirs. I can create illusions that people see. So far all I can do is make illusions of a person's greatest fear."

Jubilee eagerly stretched out her hand, and her fingertips began to glow softly. Rogue quickly reached across Remy and covered her hands up with her own. "No, don't!" She said, sounding frantic.

Jubilee let the glow dissipate in surprise, and Rouge pulled her hands back. "Sorry Jubes, it's just, he's sensitive to bright lights."

Jubilee then looked at him knowingly. "Oh, your eyes, huh? Can you see in the dark or something like that?"

Rogue noticed Remy shift uncomfortably in his seat. "Well, I c'n see better den most people can in low light, but I take a bit t'adjust to bright lights."

Jubilee nodded, also noticing his change in posture. "Well anyway, I can make these little globs of energy and blow them up. Sorta like a really bright firecracker."

Remy looked over to Rogue with a thankful expression on his face. "Well den, I'm glad ya didn' blow one up."

"So Gambit," she said with a grin, "We showed you ours now you show us yours."

He laughed. "Well, I can–"

He was cut off when a loud ***BAMF*** echoed through the room, coming from a point directly behind Rogue. Everyone jumped at the sound but Remy, unaccustomed to the sound swiftly moved into action. To everyone it appeared that one second he had been sitting on the couch, and the next he was standing next to the couch, turned around to face the noise, with his plate in his hand pulsating with a magenta glow, tensed to throw it at the sudden arrival.

The source of the noise raised his three-fingered hand in a tentative wave and a weak smile. "Er, hello. Sorry to frighten you, I was practicing teleporting to places without seeing them first."

Remy glanced at the others who didn't seem surprised by the blue-skinned man, and lowered his plate, allowing the charge to dissipate. "S'alright. Just the last time I heard a loud bang like dat I got shot."

Rogue stood up next to Remy. "Kurt, this is Gambit. Gambit, this is Kurt Wagner."

Remy nodded to the man, only now noticing a long, pointed tail swishing behind him.

Kurt shook his hand and apologized again. "I should have made sure this room was unoccupied before I teleported."

Rogue shook her head. "That's alright –"

Sam suddenly shushed everyone when something on TV caught his eye. "Hey guys, heads up," he said, grabbing the remote and turning up the volume.

On the bottom of the screen a banner proclaimed "Breaking News", and pictures of a Manhattan, New York neighborhood covered the rest of the screen. It shifted to an aerial view of a street blocked off by barricades and the caved in side of a large building. Remy recognized the entrance he'd blown up immediately and felt a cold clenching in his gut.

The view changed to an attractive young woman with short-cropped black hair standing in front of the barricades. She lifted her microphone to her mouth. _"Hello, this is Trish Tilby reporting for WNBC-4 News. As most of you know, close to two weeks ago, explosions in this quiet New York neighborhood brought police to the scene of what is being called the New York City Massacre."_

"_A long forgotten network of tunnels dating back to the early Cold War era caved in due to the explosions, and inside police uncovered a group of armed men who, police allege, murdered dozens of mutants who were inhabiting the tunnel network. Currently 64 mutants have been confirmed dead, and the bodies of at least two of the armed men have been recovered, and anonymous sources have indicated they found the remains of another person apparently caught in one of the explosions."_

"_Images and information released by the police and medical examiners indicate that the majority of the mutants living in the tunnels suffered from very visible, severe physical deformation, presumably a manifestation of their mutations. Yesterday I talked to Secretary of Mutant Affairs, Dr. Hank McCoy who is a renowned expert on Mutant Genetics and Behavior."_

The picture shifted to a tall, blue-furred beast-like man wearing an expensive suit. He sat in a chair across from Trish Tilby. _"Well Ms. Tilby, I cannot say I am surprised that we would find a group of mutants, such as the ones found in these tunnels, forming small, private societies of their own. As you know, discrimination and violence against mutants is becoming more and more common, and for those who have physical mutations that visually brand them mutants, some deal with it best by removing themselves from the public eye, and banding together with others who understand their plight. In fact, I would expect this sort of thing to become more and more common with this horrible tragedy, unless we as Americans take steps to end this fear and hatred toward the mutant community."_

The image changed back to the reporter standing in front of the barricade. _"We have some new, unconfirmed information from anonymous sources within the New York City Police Department that one of the armed men from the tunnels has given the police information on the incident in exchange for a shorter sentence. Apparently he has claimed that they were all private-contract mercenaries hired by a group called Friends of Humanity, a notorious anti-mutant group that has pressured Washington to pass the Registration Act that has been rejected three times now by Congress."_

"_We have made calls to the Friends of Humanity Headquarters and after several attempts at contact, their PR director made the following statement: 'Friends of Humanity has never been and will never be involved in violence against mutants. We, along with the rest of the American people, only want mutants to register with the government so that their powers are known and police can deal with them if any uses those powers to do harm. This is no different than requiring people to register their guns for example. We are not in any way involved with the tragic deaths of the mutants in New York, and our sympathies go out to any family members of the victims. Murder is a tragic crime no matter what species is involved._'"

Remy heard Sam whisper, "Yeah, right. They're full of shit."

"_Here at the site of the Massacre, rescue workers are still exploring the tunnels looking for survivors and more dead in areas they have only now been able clear debris to access. The mercenaries in custody are being charged with numerous counts of first-degree murder. With the death penalty declared unconstitutional in New York several years ago, they could be facing multiple sentences of life in prison. The State Attorney General has stated his department will seek the harshest sentences if they are found guilty. Our sources believe that the new development with the unidentified mercenary may lead to the person or persons that hired them for the attack. Back to you Diane."_

The camera shifted to a brunette sitting behind a news desk next to an older man with graying hair. _"Thank you Trish. We now send you to Brian McCormack in the Sport Center….."_

Bobby turned the volume back down and said, "I hope they catch the bastard that hired them. I'd like t'get my hands on him myself." He said, clenching a fist.

"I'm betting it's one of mutant hater groups like that Friends of Humanity." Sam said.

As they debated over who was behind the murders, Remy put on his poker face, not allowing his emotions to spill over and betray him. He felt guilt stabbing at his heart as he thought of all the mutants killed. '_Sixty-four_,' he thought, '_all of them dead because I wasn't thorough enough checking those assholes out_.'

'_How am I going to tell Stormy that? She'll probably never want to even see my face again if I tell her I basically led them down there_.' His thoughts conflicted. '_But I can't lie to her. She's my best friend, and she's gonna want to know the whole story sooner or later. She didn't hate me when she found out about all those people that died in the theater when I blew it up, though, so maybe she'll forgive me. Maybe cuss me out for being so fucking stupid. I mean, yeah, I screwed up, but how was I supposed to guess that bastard really hired me to find a mutant hideout._'

Remy was broken out of his thoughts when Rogue touched his hand. He turned his head in her direction. She looked up at him and he could see concern in her gaze. "Are you alright Remy?" She asked quietly. "You kinda were in your own world there. If ya're not feelin' good we can go see Annie."

He glanced around, startled, when he saw both Bobby and Piotr, as well as Kurt, had left the room, and the others were starting to get up from their seats with their empty dishes in hand.

He looked back at Rogue. "Oui, I'm alright. I was just thinkin' 'bout dat New York City thing, an' it kinda got to me. Sixty-two people. Dat's like killin' most of de mutants here at dis school. Innocent people dat got a freak chance of gettin' some genes dat made dem "different". How could anyone do dat an' look demselves in th'mirror ev'ry mornin'?"

Rogue shook her head. "Ah don't know. Ah guess there's some people that don' have any sort of sense of wrong or right, or they do and just don' care."

Remy ran a hand through his hair, and then reached down to grab his own dishes when he saw that Rogue had taken hers as well.

"Well, nice t'meet you Gambit," Jubilee said, standing near the doorway. "Hope ya stay around. We never have enough cute guys around here," she said, winking at him.

The others bid them goodbye, and soon Remy and Rogue were left alone in the room.

Rogue turned off the television and nudged Remy with her elbow. "You still up for that tour?"

Remy smiled and shoved aside his worries over Storm's possible reactions for later thought. "I t'ink dat sounds great right about now."

* * *

_A/N: Hope you liked it – getting more into the other students at Xaviers which the movies couldn't really get into with the time constraints and character developments they already had to take care of. Little nod to Trish/Hank there, depending on how things go later on I might actually get a bit into the story._

_Well, next chapter I'm planning will wrap up the day with the tour, dinner, and a convo with Xavier, so it should be a bit shorter._


	6. Chapter 6: Acclimation: Evening

_**Disclaimer: X-men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So please don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway. ;)**_

A/N: Thanks for the reviews last chap. Please, R&R.

**Chapter 6: Acclimation - Evening**

* * *

Jubilee, Kitty, and Danielle left the kitchen as Rogue and Remy began to clean their dishes.

Kitty walked in between the other two, and bumped into Jubilee with her shoulder. "So, what d'you think of Gambit?"

"You mean besides you being right that he's totally gorgeous? Did you see his eyes?"

Danielle nodded. "I know, they're like hypnotizing."

"He seems like a nice guy, too. Usually the hot ones are total dicks, but he's nice." Kitty said.

"I hope he sticks around like he said he's thinking about. We never have enough hotties like that around this place. Heck, there's hardly any guys around this place period, and the only two unattached are Piotr and Sam. I know Professor X was talking about bringing in more students, but it sounded like that wouldn't be until next semester." Jubilee said.

The three stopped at the base of the stairs. "See you two later," Danielle said. "I've got to finish up my paper for Mutant Ethics class."

Jubilee stood next to Kitty. "So," she said slyly, "Bobby looked great today."

"Yeah, I love it when he wears those jeans –" Kitty began to say and then snapped her mouth shut, blushing.

"I knew it!" Jubilee exclaimed. "I **thought** you had the hots for him."

Kitty made a shushing sound and clamped a hand over Jubilee's mouth. She looked around for anyone who might have heard them. "Shut up, Jubes. I don't want you to yell it out to the whole school!"

Jubilee nodded and pulled her hand off her mouth. "Sorry," she whispered. "I've just noticed the two of you staring at each other, and I just wanted to make sure I hadn't lost my eye for romance since I left my old high school. So, tell me about it."

Kitty looked at the ground, embarrassed. "There's not much to tell. We've been flirting a bunch, and I think he really likes me, but neither of us wanna hurt Rogue."

Jubilee pouted. "You mean there's no secret rendezvous with Iceman late at night or anything scandalous like that? Geez, this place is boring compared to back home."

Kitty blushed. "No, nothing like that. We haven't even kissed or anything like that. I'm waiting for him and Rogue to split up."

"Well, I'll be rootin' for ya. I mean, Rogue's one of my best friends and I don't wanna see her get hurt - I just never really saw the whole Rogue/Bobby thing workin' out anyway. They're just too different from each other, and I never really saw much chemistry to keep them going. It'll probably hurt Rogue a bit when they break it off, with her powers and all, but I think it'd be for the best for both of 'em."

Kitty nodded. "I hope you're right."

"C'mon, when have I ever been wrong, Kitty-cat?"

Kitty smiled. "Do you really want me to answer that? C'mon, we should work on our papers too – maybe we can go to the mall or something this weekend if we get it done instead of studying like we did last weekend."

Jubilee nodded. "Good point. I'm gonna run up and get my laptop. See you in the living room!" she called as she jogged up the stairs.

* * *

Remy finished drying his plate when he saw Storm walk into the kitchen. He bent his head to Rogue's and said, "I'll be back f'r that tour, just gimme a sec."

"Hey Remy, I thought you'd be here since you weren't in your room." Storm said.

"Hey, Stormy, sorry I missed havin' lunch with ya. Rogue wanted me t'meet some of her friends an' I ate lunch wit' dem."

Storm gave him a mock frown. "Well, I **guess** I'll forgive you."

Remy grinned. "Lemme make it up to ya – dinner tonight, an' I promise I'll be dere dis time."

"That sounds good, Remy," she said, and put her hand on his shoulder. "And I'm glad you're making some friends around here."

Remy nodded. "Figured if I'm gonna stay, might as well get t'know ev'ryone." He said, noticing a smile come to her face as he said it.

He glanced over to the sink and saw Rogue standing there silently waiting for him, her hands in her pockets. "Rogue was gonna give me de grand tour of dis place, so I'll see ya tonight. Dis time I'll be dere."

Ororo's eyes widened. "I knew I was forgetting something. Sorry, too much on my mind and I forgot to show you around. Well, have fun."

Remy nodded and walked back to Rogue. "Ready?" She asked him.

"Yeah." He said, allowing her to once again lead the way out of the room.

Rogue led him to the end of the hall. "Well, this is our biggest classroom. We usually have the larger class groups in here."

The door opened to a large room with a vaulted ceiling covered in skylights and long rows of fluorescent light strips. Several enormous picture windows made up two walls and framed the landscape outside the mansion. The slate floors had several openings around the room in which trees stood under the skylights. There were numerous long tables situated around an area with a portable whiteboard and blackboard.

"Nice room. Looks almost like it could be on a college campus. The trees're nice touch."

"Yeah, I guess back when they were getting this place set up for school, Ororo saw all the windows and skylights and got Professor Xavier to let her set this up to be a classroom an' an, what's the word?"

Remy shrugged. "Tree farm?" he suggested.

"Well, basically. But there's – Arboretum. That's what it's called. Anyway, she takes care of all the trees here."

Remy nodded. "Yeah, she does have quite a green thumb. I know I got scolded quite a bit when she saw de plants around my apartment when I forgot t'water 'em."

Rogue chuckled and led him back out of the room and pointed to a series of doors on the opposite side of the hall from the kitchen and the living room. "All of those are smaller classrooms. Most of the first floor above us are classrooms too, an' the second and third floor are all bedrooms for the older students and teachers. The younger students stay in an expanded wing off from the library up here."

She opened the double French doors and led him into the library. He was impressed with the size of it. Bookcases lined the walls and a good dozen stood in rows near the center of the room. The cases along the walls were the stereotypical type he'd seen in movies involving large mansions, extending up close to twelve or fifteen feet high with several ladders attached to moveable rails on each section.

Remy walked along one bookcase, his eyes running along the spines of the books. He pulled several out partway to examine them, and raised an eyebrow. "Looks like y'got quite a few first editions here."

Rogue nodded. "Yeah, a bunch of these are all first editions. We also have some really old first editions that only Professor Xavier, Ororo, and a few others can use, over here."

She led him to a bookcase with glass in front of it, and a small lock keeping the hinged pane in place. His thieves mind reeled at the collection sitting behind the glass. "Shit, your prof must really be loaded. _Tale of Two Cities_ first printing? Alexander Pope's _Iliad_ translation? Is dat a first edition _Paradise Lost_?"

Rogue nodded, and Remy shook his head in amazement. "Dis bookcase's probably worth a small country," he said with a grin.

Rogue laughed, "Yeah, just about."

Remy stepped back from the bookcase. "So, what else ya got on dis floor- a safe filled with gold bricks or somet'ing?"

Rogue swatted his shoulder and led him to another doorway. "Nothin' like that, but we have a pretty high tech computer lab in here."

A series of flatscreen computers lined the rows of tables in the room. "We have computer classes here and do our homework and online courses on these." She gestured to two doors in a small open hallway area at the other end of the room. "That door on the right is Professor Xavier's office, and the one on the left goes out to a garage where everyone keeps their cars. And over here," she said, taking him down the hallway, "we're back to the entrance hall."

They stopped at the front door and she pulled his sunglasses from her collar and handed them to him. "Doesn't look like it's raining anymore, so Ah'll show ya around the grounds."

Remy slipped on his glasses once more and they exited the building. They walked around the side of the building to a large open area. "Well, these are the basics- basketball court and swimming pool, area for football and all that. My favorite part of the mansion is over there." Rogue said, pointing to a one story building that stood in the distance.

As they neared the building she said, "The mansion property in the front is pretty close to the main town, but out back here it goes about six or seven miles back into the woods. I think we've got around 10,000 acres here – we even have a decent sized lake out over there," she said, pointing to a glimmer of water visible through a small copse of trees, "so there's a lot of room for hiking around, and," she paused opening the large doors to the building, "horseback riding."

The inside of the building was a large central hall with stalls on either side, most of them containing horses which were whinnying in excitement at the new arrivals.

"We keep th' horses in here for bad weather like this morning, but most of the time they stay out in a big fenced off paddock out back that goes down to the lake. Most of these horses are Professor Xavier's, but Sam actually brought a horse with him, an' Ah think one was a present from a friend of the Professor."

"You like ridin'?" Remy asked.

Rogue nodded. "Ah love it. Ah've ridden since Ah was seven back in Miss'ippi. Ah try ta at least go ridin' twice a week after mah classes or on th'weekend." Remy smiled at her enthusiasm and the way her eyes seemed to glow when she talked about riding. Rogue grabbed his hand. "C'mere, Ah want ya t'meet my fav'rite."

She pulled him over to a stall occupied by a tall white-maned horse with a creamy golden coat. "Her name's Chestnut. She's a palomino. Sweetest horse Ah've ever seen."

"Hey dere," Remy said softly as he ran a hand up and down her broad nose. "Y' a pretty girl."

Chestnut snorted and pushed her head against his hand. Rogue laughed. "She likes ya."

Remy reached into the feeding tray near the door and grabbed a handful of oats. He held his hand out and Chestnut merrily munched at the food. Remy patted her head as she finished eating, and then turned to Rogue. "Well, next time y'go out ridin' you should let me know an' I'll go with ya."

Rogue smiled. "That'd be great. Usually Ah'm stuck ridin' by m'self because Ah'm one of th' only ones that's got any experience. Bobby doesn' even want to learn. Between you an' me Ah think he's 'fraid of horses," Rogue said.

Remy chuckled. "Well, now y'know someone else dat knows how t'ride. So you always go out on y'own? Must get a bit lonely havin' t'do dat all de time."

"Sometimes Sam'll ride with me, but ev'ryone else at th'mansion that's int'rested is gettin' beginner lessons from a guy that comes in every other week. Ah was thinkin' of ridin' maybe Saturday in th' afternoon before it cools off Sunday night."

"Alrigh'. Y'let me know when y'do it an' I'll come along."

Rogue smiled again, and ran her hand along Chestnut's head once more before turning back toward the entrance to the stable. "C'mon, Ah still hafta show you the lower levels of the mansion."

* * *

The curved elevator door slid to the side, allowing them to exit onto the first basement level. Rogue walked to the right to a door at the end of the hall. "In there is something that's called Cerebro. Ah'd show it to ya, but it sounds like it's running."

Remy cocked his head and heard the hum of machinery coming through the door. "What's it do?"

"Well, Cerebro's like this big spherical room, and somethin' with the shape an' the materials an' size make it so it boosts psychic powers. The Professor can use it ta look around the world at ev'ryone, an' can tell which ones are mutants. Since it's on that's prob'bly what he's doin' now. He's been lookin' a lot lately 'cuz he wants ta expand the school and get a bunch more students next fall."

Remy nodded. "So, y'Professor's a psychic? Like readin' minds an' all dat? Guess y'can't use de ol' dog ate my homework excuse at dis place."

Rogue giggled. "Nope, but Ah don't think he'd need t'read your mind t'know y'were lyin' about that."

Rogue turned from the door and led him back down the hall toward the med-lab. "There's a bunch of little rooms down here that we use as storage space – that's what most of those doors are. That room is an exercise room – we've got treadmills, weight machines, an' all that." She said, pointing to the room he'd seen his first night at the Institute. "Then we've got this room here where we keep our uniforms." She said, showing him what basically amounted to a locker room with drawers presumably for spare costumes. Several black leather costumes sat out in plain view, each looking distinctly different than the other.

Remy ran a hand over one and looked at Rogue with a smirk. "Kinky. You guys got a leather fetish or somet'ing?"

Rogue blushed and swatted at him. "Do ya always have ya mind in th'gutter?"

Remy cocked his head and squinted his eyes in thought. He looked back at her after a few moments and nodded. "Yep." He said with a grin.

Rogue shook her head in exasperation and walked back toward the entrance to the room, mumbling something about perverted swamp rats. Remy followed her, laughing.

Rogue walked straight to the other end of the hall and opened a set of double steel doors. Remy stopped laughing and stared at the contents of the room. "Shit."

Rogue laughed at his expression as he stared into the enormous room.

"Shit." Remy said again. "Y'got a **jet**?"

Rogue nodded. "Yep. We actually got a smaller one too out past that one. It's brand new – they decided after our last one almost got blown up that we should at least have some sort of extra one."

Remy walked up to the large, sleek black jet and saw what looked like the same plane only about half the size resting on the hangar floor nearby. He looked around the hangar and then glanced back at Rogue. "How d'you get dis thing out?"

Rogue pointed upward to the vaulted ceiling that stretched nearly thirty feet above them. "We open up th'ceilin'. If ya are ever playing basketball an' hear a siren ya better move it."

Remy shook his head in amazement. "Stormy never tol' me about all of dis. When she said y'had a plane I thought she meant some Cessna or a private jet at de airport, not dis sort of military style stealth jet."

Rogue placed her hand on his arm. "Once you're done drooling over the jet there's one more place I wanna show yah."

He tore his eyes from what any other time he'd probably be planning to steal for a cool fifty million dollars, and followed her from the massive hangar.

At the elevator, she punched the button for the next floor down, and the elevator swiftly dropped them to the next level.

The door opened onto a large room with the same shiny metallic walls of the floor above. An open door in front of them revealed a room with a long oak table with chairs seated around facing a large plasma screen. Rogue saw his gaze and said, "That's our conference room. And this is the control room for the Danger Room."

Remy looked to the other side of the large room and saw several chairs lined up at a series of computer terminals and arrays of control switches. He walked over to the chairs and saw the controls were set below a long, large window overlooking a room that was at least the size of the hangar he had just been in.

"So, what's it do? Looks like a big empty room."

Rogue walked over to the nearest terminal and punched the button by the plasma screen to turn it on and then clicked through a series of screens and options. "It can do just 'bout anything."

She hit a switch next to the terminal and suddenly the room below was filled with war-torn buildings. Soldiers equipped head to toe in body armor marched along the streets, their eyes shifting around the ruins for signs of danger.

Rogue clicked the mouse several times and the scene shifted to a lush, dense jungle and then a room that looked like a scene out of an Indiana Jones movie with arrows whizzing across the room and blades swinging through the air.

Remy whistled. "Holograms? Dat's pretty high tech. So you just go down dere an' fight with dem an' dodge around? I bet it can seem pretty real to your eyes but I'd think it'd be easy knowin' y'can't get hurt."

Rogue nodded. "Well, what you're seeing are holograms. What you aren't seein' is this."

She pressed a button and the hologram dimmed to faint ghostly images. Behind some of the arrows, actual projectiles with blunt heads shot across the room, and thick leather-covered rods swung in the place of some of the blades.

"Some of th' images have actual objects behind them. Ah wouldn't say they're deadly or anythin', but they hurt like hell, so after gettin' hit a few times by those, y'don't wanna mess around an' find out if the image actually has somethin' behind it."

She switched back to the original scene and roughly humanoid shaped objects popped up out of the ground holding weapons in the same position as the soldiers. "When we do somethin' like this they actually shoot wax bullets. With our suits on we don't really get hurt, but they sting like heck – enough t'know we got hit."

Remy nodded, looking impressed at the technology of both the hologram and the physical representation behind it. "You train in here a lot?"

"Yeah, usually at least once a day during th'week. If Annie lets ya, Ah can set up a program for ya ta try out this weekend."

Remy leaned his back against the window. "I'd like dat. Listen, thanks for showin' me 'round de place, Rogue."

"Y'welcome Remy. Ah had fun," she said, smiling. "This's mah first time showin' anyone around, so Ah hope Ah remembered everything ta show ya."

"Y'were great. Not t'mention one of de prettiest tour guide's I've ever had."

She blushed and looked away from him. "Anyway, Ah've gotta go soon an' get some homework done so Ah'm not up till eleven tonight."

Remy nodded. "All right. I been thinkin' I need a shower after ev'ryt'ing de past few days. Prob'bly smell pretty funky right now."

Rogue moved closer to him and crinkled her nose. "A little, yeah. Just make sure yah head down t'Annie an' change yah bandages if yah get them wet. Y'don't wanna get an infection or somethin'."

"Yeah, I'll hafta do dat." He said as they walked back to the elevator. The elevator rose swiftly to the third floor. "See ya later tonight, Remy!" Rogue called as she walked to her room.

Remy stood by the elevator, watching her from behind until she disappeared into her room. He realized he had been staring and smacked himself in the head. "Get it t'gether LeBeau. She's prob'bly plenty happy wit' her boyfriend. She don't need a thief like you tryin' get in her pants." He muttered to himself as he opened his door.

He rolled his eyes, remembering Bobby. _'Don't know how a girl like her could fall for dat 'N Sync reject_.' His mind ran through the afternoon meeting with her friends. '_For being a couple it's a little weird he didn't bother to come sit by her._' He wondered to himself.

Remy shut his eyes, trying to remember everything he'd seen. He'd found that with practice he could focus on an event and remember it with near eidetic recall – something invaluable when casing a job.

As the afternoon in the living room played through his head, he walked to the small bathroom and turned the faucet on the tub to the left and let it run to get hot water flowing. '_When he wasn't giving me the evil eye he was eyeing up Kitty quite a bit. Trouble in paradise maybe?_' he wondered. '_You might have a chance after all, you old thief.'_ He thought to himself.

His expression dimmed. '_That's if Stormy doesn't kick me out on my ass when I tell her what happened._' He thought, his dread from earlier creeping back. He pulled the pin up on the faucet, and the water sputtered and then began flowing from the showerhead.

He sighed and peeled off his bandages before stepping in to let the scalding water roll over his head as he tried to think of something else.

* * *

Ororo was placing the hot baked potatoes she'd just taken from the oven onto two plates next to the rest of the meal she'd cooked, when Remy entered the kitchen.

"You're just in time, Remy."

He glanced at the full plates and looked back up to Ororo. "Y' didn' hafta make me dinner Stormy. I was gonna make us somet'ing or take y'out to dinner."

"I figured you would want to, but this is your first night here so I wanted to make you a nice dinner."

Remy picked up the plates took them over to a table in the corner. Ororo sat down and he sat across from her. He cut off a piece of chicken breast and forked it into his mouth. "Mm. Dis is really tasty."

Ororo smiled. "Good, I'm glad you like it. It's a mashed-up potato chip breading that I've wanted to try for a while."

"Thanks for makin it, Stormy. Tomorrow I'll hafta make supper."

"Well, actually, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays the staff usually makes supper for everyone, and I was going to fill in for someone who's not feeling very well."

Remy nodded. "I know 'bout dat. Rogue an' her friends were talkin' 'bout how dey get supper an' dat you were prob'bly goin' to make it. How 'bout y' let me do it for ya? Introduce dese kids t' some real Cajun cookin'?"

Ororo shrugged reluctantly. "Well, if you really want to go to the trouble. You'll probably need to head into town to get groceries because I don't think we have a whole lot for you here. I could give you some money -"

Remy broke her off with a laugh. "_Ma seour_, don' you remember de money ya found? I could buy supper for y'all for weeks an' not make a dent."

Ororo grinned in embarrassment. "Yeah, I wasn't thinking of that. If you want to do it, feel free."

"Y'don't hafta worry 'bout anyt'ing. Now. How many veg'tarian's you got 'round here? Kitty said she's one, but I don' really know anyone else. Dat way I know how much extra I need t'cook for dem."

Ororo glanced to the ceiling, trying to mentally count. "I think we've got four people that are vegetarians or vegans."

"Alright," Remy said, mentally calculating how much he'd need to get for them.

Ororo scraped the last bit of chicken from her plate and sliced open her baked potato. "So, what do you think of this place?"

"I like it here. Definitely cooler den I thought it'd be. When I got more energy I'd like t'get into dat Danger Room t'ing – dat sounds like it could be pretty challenging."

Ororo nodded. "Whenever you want to, just ask me and I'll set something up for you."

She swallowed another spoonful of baked potato, and spoke again. "What about the people here? Who all did you meet today?"

"Well 'sides Annie, I met a bunch of Rogue's friends. Kitty, Jubilee, Dani, Piotr, Sam, an' Iceboy. Don' t'ink I'd get along wit' him too well, but all de rest were nice." He paused. "Rogue got me t'take off my shades an' none of dem got freaked. Not used to dat."

Ororo's eyes softened, and she placed her hand over his. "I think you'll find that a lot here. Everyone knows how it is to have other people freak out either from their appearance or from seeing them use their abilities."

Remy nodded. "Your Professor X has a good dream here."

Ororo smiled. "I know. Actually, speaking of Charles, he wanted to meet you after we ate. I'll take you up to his office when we're done. I already told him what you told me, and he said you're welcome to stay as long as you like."

Remy shook his head, and looked down at his plate and shoveled the last portion of baked potato onto his fork. "Thanks f'r invitin' me, Stormy. Wish I'd taken y'offer sooner. We coulda spent more time t'gether."

Ororo smiled and set her spoon down on her plate. "It's alright Remy. I know how hard it is for you to get away from what you do."

Remy shrugged and placed his own fork on the table. "Well, don't t'ink dat'll be a problem now dat I'm tryin' t'make people t'ink I'm dead."

Ororo nodded and stood to grab her plate and take it to the dishes, but he stood at the same time and grabbed it before her, and took both their plates over to the sink. He was about to turn on the faucet, but she grabbed his hand and pulled him away from the sink. "I'll do that while you're talking to Charles."

Ororo leaned into him and put an arm around his back and rested her head on his shoulder. "Remy," she said quietly, "You know you don't have to stay here just to make me happy. I know you have your own life – you don't need to stop living it because of me."

Remy stopped walking and leaned down, resting his forehead against hers. "_Ma soeur_, like I said, ev'ryone thinks I'm dead. I'm startin' t'think dat might be de best way t'get out of dat life. Sure, I'll miss some of de excitement before a heist an' things like dat, but maybe it's time f'me to start somethin' new. I ain' just stayin' here t'make y'happy even though I'd like t'do dat – I like it here an' de people here, an' my friend'll want me t'stay too."

Ororo smiled and looked into his eyes. "Okay. I just don't want to make you feel like I want to force you to stay here."

He pulled his head away and put his arm around her shoulders. "C'mon, Stormy, y'know if I don't wanna do somethin' nothin' in the world's gonna make me do it."

Ororo's lips quirked in a smile, and she rubbed her hand through his hair. "Like getting you to actually comb your hair instead of letting it go wild like this?"

He laughed. "Good example. Least I showered before, else you'd be smellin' 'bout four days of river water gunk right now."

Ororo feigned a grateful sigh. "I was wondering what that smell was when I hugged you this morning," she said, shifting her arm to poke him in the side. "Now behave – here's Charles's office."

"He in dere?"

Ororo nodded and moved his arm from her shoulder and gave him a push toward the door. "Yep. Now get in there. And be nice."

Remy gave her a reassuring smile and knocked on the door. Immediately a voice answered. "Come in."

Remy turned the doorknob and pulled the door open. The office was spacious, with hardwood paneling similar to the rest of the mansion covering the walls. Behind a large oak desk sat a distinguished bald man that he recognized instantly. He nearly slapped his forehead for not making the connection between the Charles that Storm always talked about and the famous geneticist Charles Xavier he'd seen on TV numerous times talking about mutants. Now he began to feel a little nervous being in the presence of such a brilliant scientist.

Charles moved his hand near the edge of his desk and the electric motor of his wheelchair whirred as he directed it to move from behind the desk and toward Remy. As he reached him he extended a hand and shook Remy's. "Hello, Gambit, it is very nice to meet you – I'm Charles Xavier."

Remy nodded, and released his hand. "Nice t'meet you too Professor. Actually seen you on TV several times – thought you argued your side the best in your mutation debate on CNN with dat Professor Essex."

Xavier smiled. "Thank you – that was one of the most interesting debates I've had with another geneticist."

Charles gestured at a chair, and Remy sat down. Xavier made no move to go back behind his desk, so Remy turned the chair the rest of the way to face him.

"There's no need to be nervous, Gambit. I don't bite or anything." Charles said, his eyes crinkling in a smile when he saw Remy's leg unconsciously begin to bounce up and down.

Remy looked at him in surprise. "You readin' my mind?" He demanded, not sure he liked the idea that Xavier could comb through his head without him even knowing it.

Charles shook his head. "No, just your body language. I try to avoid reading other people's minds without their consent, but despite that they give off so many extraneous thoughts it is impossible to avoid hearing them. I actually am not even getting any of those from you. In fact, I couldn't read your mind even if I tried."

Remy quirked his eyebrows. "Really? I thought y'were a one of de most powerful telepaths around?"

"You have a rather interesting energy signature around your body that gives off what basically sounds like white noise on a radio to any telepath trying to read your thoughts. I suspect it is connected with your abilities in some way. You're basically completely shielded from telepathy."

Remy nodded thoughtfully. "Well, dat's handy t'know. I guess I don't hafta think a bunch of dirty thoughts when I'm around telepaths anymore."

Charles laughed. "I guess not."

Charles' expression turned more serious. "Ororo tells me you got into some trouble and your employer decided to have you killed. She said you don't think you're in any danger now?"

"_Non_, dey think I'm dead so dere shouldn't be any danger for de kids here. If dere was I'dve been gone dis mornin'."

Charles relaxed into a smile. "That is good to hear. May I ask what it is you do for a living?"

Remy nodded. "Well, I'm a professional thief." He said, deciding to be honest, knowing that a telepath like Xavier had trained his eye to catch a tell when someone lied to him in case he was unable to read their thoughts.

Charles' eyes widened a bit. "That must be quite an interesting life. Ororo told me you grew up in the 'family business' – I suppose that's what she was talking about?"

"_Oui_. My _père_ is de head of de Theives Guild down in N'awlins. Been a thief since before I c'n remember."

Charles nodded. "What exactly did your employer want you dead for?"

Remy was silent for several moments, and he closed his eyes and sighed. "Alright. I'll tell ya now 'cuz you're prob'bly gonna find out when I tell Stormy. Den y'can tell me if I'm wastin' my time stickin' around here gettin' t'know everyone. I'll understand if y'don't want me 'round de kids here. Just…. Don't tell Stormy – I gotta tell her myself when I work up de nerve to."

Charles looked at him in alarm. "I'm sure it can't be _that_ bad."

Remy just shrugged and looked at him.

Charles nodded reluctantly. "Okay, Gambit – I promise I will not tell Ororo what we talk about in here."

Remy sighed again and rubbed his forehead. "Okay. Few weeks ago, I get dis call from a friend of mine sayin' he heard someone was lookin' for a professional for a bank job. Said dey were offerin' nine hundred grand. Now dat's a nice amount for a consultin' an' scoutin' job – usually only f'r high end bank targets where dey can afford to toss dat much away."

"Anyway, I went an' talked t' de man – he was a little smarmy lookin' wit' horn-rimmed glasses, but den most of de middlemen look a bit slimy. Dey wanted me to check out a way t'get in from underneath de bank – dey'd heard dere was a way in dat not many people remembered an' wanted me t'map it out for dem."

"So, I checked dem out a little an' dey seemed okay – just your typical high-end bank robbers. I-" his voice broke, "I shoulda fuckin' checked dem out better – woulda never taken de job if I did."

"I checked out dis way under de bank dey heard about – took some searchin' but I found an entrance to some tunnels set up in the Cold War."

He saw Charles' eyes begin to show some recognition. "Dere were some people livin' down dere dat I noted on my map so de robbers could avoid dem an' get to de bank without runnin' into dem an' havin' any trouble."

"The tunnels – they weren't looking for a way into the bank, were they?" Charles' asked, though he already knew the answer.

Remy shook his head, looking agitated. "I found out about it when I went t'get de rest of my money – fifty percent after dey got a report from de robbers dat the map was right. Overheard de slimy man talkin' to someone 'bout it. I went back fast as I could, but it was almost over when I got dere."

Remy shook his head, staring at his hands, seeing the blood of every mutant down there on them. He closed his eyes, his hands clenching into fists in his lap, and spoke again sounding anguished. "All those people. Dey were already dead – because of me. Couldn't do nothin' t'stop it. De dead mercs – dat was me tryin' t'get through an' save anyone I could."

"That's why they wanted to kill me when they found out I knew from the mercs. So – dat's it. If y'want me gone, say de word an' just give me enough time t'say goodbye to Stormy an' Rogue b'fore y'call de police.

Remy heard the electric whirr of the wheelchair, and thought that was exactly what Xavier was moving to do. He looked up in surprise when a hand rested on his shoulder. "Gambit – I'm not going to call the police. I'm not going to try to scold you or rage at you for what happened down there. You look like you're feeling more than enough guilt without having anyone lay any more on you. I really don't blame you for feeling that way. But-"

Xavier paused. "I think you are feeling more guilt than you rightly should. There was no way you could know these people weren't out to steal from a bank but rather to massacre a community of mutants. I know from experience you're playing the 'what if' game – 'what if I spent a little more time investigating', 'what if I looked at this place rather than that place', 'What if –what if – what if'. It doesn't change what happened, and it only makes you feel worse about what happened. You know as well as I do that if you hadn't taken the job they would have found someone else to do it, and perhaps they would have been delayed a few days, but it still would have happened."

Remy sighed and nodded. "I know I'm beatin' myself up over it when dere was probably no way I coulda known. I just can't help it. I don't know how to stop waking up in de middle of de night after dreamin' 'bout all of dem. Sometimes their jus' layin' in piles of bodies, other times their talkin' to me, askin' why I did it to dem. Will dat ever go away?" He asked, looking into Charles' eyes.

Charles squeezed his shoulder firmly. "Eventually. The guilt never goes away completely, but the dreams eventually end. I've never told any of my X-men this, but I taught a small group of students years before them. They were so young – as young as Rogue – and so brilliant. Their abilities were amazing and I trained them to use them. I was so damned sure of myself and my training of them, and they knew how I felt. Because of that arrogance, they got into a situation that neither they, nor I could handle, and they all died. Every single one of them. I felt their deaths over our psychic bond and each one felt like I was dying myself. I blamed myself for years and played the same 'what if' game as you are playing in your own mind. I had the same sort of dreams for years. It wasn't until I finally opened up to a close friend that I started to finally get over the guilt. Because of her help I finally started trying to make my dream for mutant-kind a reality, and started the X-men despite my reservations that the same thing would happen once again. I always fear that every time I send them out on a mission, that I am sending them to the same fate as the others."

Remy looked at him gratefully. "Thanks for tellin' me dat. Really needed t'hear it. Must be hard t'talk about for you."

Charles nodded wearily. "It is. In fact you are only the second person I've told about it." He paused and looked at Remy. "Gambit-"

Remy cut him off. "Remy. My real name's Remy." He said.

Charles smiled. "Remy. You need to tell Ororo this. Don't try to hide it from her."

Remy nodded. "I know. I gotta tell her soon – I just been dreadin' how she'll react."

"I know – that's why it took me years before I talked about what happened. My advice is – don't wait. Even though my friend helped me out, it took a long time for her to trust me again because I kept it from her for so long."

"Okay." Remy said.

"Now, as to kicking you out, I won't be doing that. You are still welcome to stay here for as long as you like. I don't hold what happened against you, and I trust Ororo's opinion of you. I am always willing to give others a chance to start over here – start something new and make a change in their lives. I do have some questions about what happened if you don't mind talking more about it."

Remy shrugged.

"The man behind it – the man that hired you. Is he a member of the Friends of Humanity?"

"Y'mean like de news was sayin' dis afternoon? I dunno. Never really found who he worked for. But given some of de things I seen FOH gettin' up to over de past few years – de things y' only see in de criminal scene – I'd bet he was a member. Den again, he could be part of another mutant hate group too."

Xavier shook his head. "Alright – I just wanted to make sure whether you knew who he was or not. I need to ask – was anyone still alive down there when you got there?"

Remy looked grimly at him. "Only a few. I heard screams echoin' through the tunnels an' dem dyin' off when dey got shot. Only one was alive when I got t'the leader of the mercs. He was gettin' ready t'cut her up when I got dere. Killed him first, an' took her wit' me. She's de main reason I came here. She's a little girl, maybe nine or ten, an' she's got trouble controllin' her mutation. Stormy tol' me 'bout dis place an' I thought she could get some help here."

Charles' eyes warmed. "Well, she's certainly welcome here as well. I'll do my best to help her with her powers. It may also be helpful for her to go through some therapy after witnessing what happened down there. In fact, we have another little girl who managed to escape right here at the Institute and I'm having sessions with her – helping her deal with what happened."

Remy looked up. "Sally?"

Charles looked at him with surprise. "Yes, that's her name. You know her?"

"_Non_, but she was a friend of Sarah's. We heard on de radios another girl escaped, an' Sarah tol' me who it was."

Charles smiled. "Well, that is excellent news. I think being with a friend would do wonders for them both."

Remy nodded. "Probably. I was thinkin' of bringin' Sarah here sometime next week if dat's not too early for you t'set somet'ing up for her."

Charles shook his head. "I'm sure we can get things ready for her over this weekend."

"Dat'd be great. Now what 'bout rent? What'll I owe y' for Sarah an' me t'stay here?"

Xavier raised a hand. "I don't require anyone to pay to stay here. If they want to I welcome the donation, but don't feel that you are required to pay me. Ororo said you were thinking of joining the X-men and I extend my own invitation to you as well. I do think that it may be best if they know everything before you join, but that will be up to you and Storm."

When Remy nodded, he continued. "I do typically ask that those not attending the school for education to help out in some way. Right now I don't really have much for you to do – perhaps help us upgrade our security system? I think your experience could be quite helpful there – especially with the way you bypassed it without too much trouble when you got here."

Remy grinned. "_Oui_, I think I c'n help y'with dat. Whatever company y'got to set it up didn't do dat great. Once I'm through wit' it, nobody'll get in without y'knowin' about it."

"I'll talk with you more about that this weekend – I'll get Logan to show you the central part of the system and we can go from there. Now, this fall semester I am planning on expanding the student body here."

Remy nodded. "Yeah, Rogue was sayin' you been lookin' wit' dat Cerebro thing for mutants t'get t'come to de school."

Charles nodded. "Yes, right now I'm hopeful we may have as many as fifty to a hundred new students. Unfortunately I'm also looking for new teachers to teach them. Perhaps if you are still around you might consider teaching?"

Remy laughed, thinking Charles was having him on, but it died when he realized he was serious. "Me? A teacher? What would I teach 'em – Lock-picking 101?"

Charles chuckled. "No, I'm not sure what you're good at, but maybe by then we could figure out something for you. Perhaps a French class?"

Remy's expression froze as he thought about the idea. He finally shrugged. "Maybe. I guess we'll see."

"I'd like you to think about it. Perhaps I'm placing all of this on you too quickly – I'm very eager for our expansion. Maybe getting a bit of experience would help you make up your mind. As it is right now one of the X-men is grieving over the death of his fiancée about a month ago, and we're having trouble filling in for his classes. Maybe you could try a few and see if it might be something that interests you. It woudn't be anything too difficult – typically Ororo will fill in for his class and needs people to take care of Physical Education classes, and sometimes for his shop class out in the garage."

Remy looked down at his lap for a minute and looked up with a slight smile on his face. "Alright. No promises 'bout dis fall, but I'll at least help y'guys out wit' fillin' in. Stormy'd be houndin' me if I didn't help you anyway."

Charles laughed. "I'm sure she would. When she's determined about something she can be quite convincing. She spent nearly a day listing off reasons I should trust you, even after I told her I trusted her judgment about you."

"Dat's de Stormy I know."

Charles leaned back in his chair. "Well, I think that was all I wanted to speak to you about, so you're free to go now. Remember – talk to Ororo. I guarantee it will help you."

Remy nodded and rose from his chair. "Okay, I'll talk wit' her by de end of de weekend. And, Professor – thanks for trustin' me. I won't let y'down."

"You're welcome. I'm glad you told me the truth. And you can call me Charles."

Remy nodded and turned to leave.

"Oh, and Remy….." he said, causing him to turn back around. "I was very pleased to hear from Ororo that you've befriended Rogue. She's had such a hard time dealing with her mutation and how others treat her when they find out what she can do. She really needs friends who don't care what her mutation is. I passed her in the hall today and I must say she seemed the happiest she's been in months, and I think you're to thank for that."

Remy smiled. "No problem… Charles," he said. "She's a great girl. She don' deserve de garbage she gets from people 'bout her powers. I know you been workin' wit' her on her powers, but I offered her my help too. Had de same control problems wit' my powers an' couldn' touch anythin' or anyone without being worried 'bout blowin' dem to bits."

Charles looked grateful. "That would be wonderful if you could help her. She's one of the most intriguing mutants I've met and I've been at a loss of how to help her with her complete lack of control over her abilities. If you had similar problems with touching you may very well be able to help her more than me – even if it is just having someone to confide in that knows how she feels."

"Well, now dat I know I c'n stay here I'll see what I c'n do t'help her."

Charles smiled. "Have a good evening, Remy."

"You too, Charles." Remy said, closing the door behind him.

* * *

As the door shut, Charles moved his hand on the controls and guided his wheelchair back behind his desk. He rubbed his forehead, hoping he'd made the right decision with Remy. '_He reminds me so much of myself.'_ He thought. '_And Logan_._ He's just a young man who had the misfortune of being raised in the environment he was placed in._'

He shook his head, still surprised at how he'd opened up to the young man about his own mistakes and how he'd dealt with it. Remy's experience and remorse had struck a cord within him, and he'd felt he needed to reassure him that even someone like himself – someone that Ororo and the others had great respect for – could make a mistake that led to tragedy.

He reached into his desk and pulled out a faded color picture. In it Charles sat in his wheelchair with his four smiling students surrounding him. A young blond girl had her arm tossed around his shoulder, as did a younger Chinese girl. Next to her stood a pale-skinned, boy with an almost alien appearance, and next to the blond girl stood a tall, brown haired young man goofing off with a glowing aura of energy encircling his fist, which stretched out behind the group, and popped up behind the blond, making rabbit ears above her head.

Charles rubbed a thumb over the picture with a sad smile on his face, and then placed it facedown back in the drawer. He picked up his phone and dialed a number.

It was picked up after several rings. "Moira? It's Charles….. No, nothing's wrong. I just wanted to talk to someone…. Well, you've been after me for years to do it, and I finally talked to someone else today about what happened. It felt good, but all those memories are rushing back and I just – I needed to talk to you…."

* * *

_**A/N:**__ I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and hope it was worth the wait. When I originally planned it I thought it'd be a short filler, but it ended up being my second longest chapter. Bunch of nods to the comics in this one – how many can you guys catch? :D_

_Anyway, next chap won't (probably) have much Romy – in fact it will have Rogue and Bobby's date – but I promise the chapter after that'll have a bunch. So – Rogue/Bobby date, a Louisiana dinner, some Logan, and some thieving shenanigans from our favorite Cajun next chap._


	7. Chapter 7: Jealousy

_**Disclaimer: X-men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway ;)**_

_A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, and on with the chapter!_

**Chapter 7: Jealousy**

* * *

An incessant ringing seeped its way into Remy's consciousness and pulled him out of his sleep. He sighed and raised his head, trying to locate the source of the noise, mainly so he could toss a charged card at it to make it stop. He jerked upright when he realized it was the phone in his room. He grabbed the handset and turned it on. "H'lo?" he said blearily into the mouthpiece.

"Remy!" Sarah's soft voice rang from the ear piece.

"Sarah. Somet'ing wrong? Why you callin' dis early?"

He heard Sarah laugh on the other end. You told me to call you at this time, silly! Not my fault you're bein' a sleepyhead again."

Remy opened an eye and squinted until the face of his watch came into focus and he saw it was already seven-thirty in the morning. He grunted. "Hm, guess you're right, _petite_. Forgot t'set my alarm."

"Well, I'm glad ya answered. That was the second time I tried calling you."

"Really? Sorry, _petite_. Had some trouble sleepin' last night an' didn't get much rest."

Remy sat up and rubbed his eyes. "How you doin'? Had breakfast yet?"

"Yeah. Don't tell Henri this, but you're a lot better cook than he is."

Remy chuckled. "Yeah, he never was too good at cookin'."

Remy stood up, stretching his back, and grabbed his sunglasses. He slid them on and carried the phone to the balcony door. He slid the door open and shuffled out onto the balcony. The sun had begun to rise above the trees, but the air was still cool, and he breathed in deeply.

"Remy?"

"Yeah, _petite_?"

"Are you feelin' better?"

His brows knitted in confusion. "Better?"

"Yeah, you didn't sound normal yesterday. You sounded like you did down in the tunnels."

Remy froze. 'Dieu_, this girl is good at reading people_.' He thought to himself.

"Yeah, I'm feelin' better," he admitted, "how'd you know?" he asked.

"I dunno – I can just tell somethin' was wrong. You sounded a little different like when you got shot by that man. You got shot again, didn't ya?" She asked, sounding concerned.

Remy sighed and leaned his elbows against the balcony railing. "Yeah Sarah. Dat was why I didn't call you guys before – dat was what I was takin' care of. But don' worry 'bout me – I'm healed up an' good as new."

There was silence on the other end for nearly half a minute before Sarah spoke. "Remy?" She said with a shaking voice. "You don't hafta keep helpin' me. Y'can just take me to an orphanage or somethin', so you don't keep gettin' hurt 'cuz of me. I- I'd understand if y'want to."

Remy closed his eyes. He knew where her insecurities about him leaving her or not wanting her came from – her fathers abandonment of her for being a mutant, and the recent slaughtering of everyone she knew down in the tunnels: likely perceived as another abandonment.

"No, Sarah. Don' even think dat. I been shot nearly a dozen times helping out Henri an' I ain' abandoned de old swamprat yet – I ain' gonna leave you either. None of me gettin' shot is your fault, y'hear?"

He heard her take a deep breath. "Okay, Remy."

She was silent again for a few moments. "Do you like the school?" She asked him.

He knew she still didn't accept that he would want to take care of her and knew it would come up again, but he didn't want to press her on the subject. '_Maybe after Xavier has some therapy sessions with her she'll be able to get over that asshole abandoning her_.' He thought to himself.

He shook his head. "Yeah, Sarah. Dis place looks like a great school. I think you'll like it here."

"Didya talk to the principal guy yet?"

"Yeah, just talked to him last night. Sounds like he thinks he'll be able to help you."

"Really?" she asked, sounding hopeful.

"_Oui_, dere's people here wit' all sorts of mutations an' dey all are gettin' helped here. De Professor said dat he'd set up a room for you by de end of de weekend and den y'can stay here."

"Are- are you comin' back soon?"

"Yeah, Sarah. I'm plannin' on headin' back t'pick you up on Monday or Tuesday, alright?"

He heard a bit more confidence in her voice. "Alright, Remy."

"Well, I should get goin', _ma mignonne_. I gotta take a shower an' get some breakfast before I head into town today."

"Alright, Remy. I'll call again tomorrow."

"Bye, Sarah." He heard her end of the line click off, and he thumbed the power button on his own phone.

Remy walked back inside, closed the balcony door, and replaced the handset. He walked to the bathroom and turned on the shower. As the water heated he ran a hand over his face and looked in the mirror at the shaggy growth on his face after several days of not shaving. '_Razor_,' he thought, making mental note to get one in town. _'Stormy'll be on my case if I don't shave this_.' He saw steam begin to rise behind him in the mirror, and turned to enter the shower.

* * *

"Good morning, Rogue, have a seat." Charles greeted the young southern girl. She was wearing a thin, long-sleeved shirt and gloves that extended up her arms under the shirt, as well as a thin, sheer scarf around her neck.

Rogue walked further into the room and sat down in a chair across from Xavier. "Good morning, Professor."

"Well, let's get started. I'm sure you're anxious to get done and head off on your date with Bobby."

She glanced at him with surprise. "How-" she began, and then shook her head. "Never mind – stupid question."

Charles chuckled. "I ate breakfast with Bobby this morning and that was about the only thing going through his head the whole morning."

He folded his hands. "Now, I've been thinking about how to focus on your touch. I think that may be the key to helping you gain control over your abilities. I had an idea and I'd like to test it out. All I need you to do is relax and let me take a look in your mind."

Rogue nodded and sat back in the chair, as Xavier placed a hand on her arm and closed his eyes. He sat completely motionless for nearly twenty minutes, and as Rogue was starting to shift anxiously in her chair, he opened his eyes and let go of her arm.

A frown briefly flashed across his face, and he looked Rogue in the eyes. "I'm not entirely sure, but I believe I may have found one of the major sources for your lack of control. Once Ororo mentioned her friend had a touch based ability, I began to wonder if that was the cause of your problem. The area of your brain that handles tactile sensations, and the part that processes emotions seem to be linked together with your mutant genes."

"A section of your mind there is very tightly locked up. From what I could gather, it locked up the first time your abilities triggered. The experience was so traumatic that your mind locked up to protect itself. I think your fear of what happened and the mental trauma have a large influence over keeping your control locked away."

He looked somewhat sadly at her. "As far as psychic therapy goes, we may be able, someday, to peel back that lockdown and give you some control; but from what I saw, and from my experience, I'm afraid it could be years, even a decade, before we could see any significant development. I'm sorry, Rogue." He said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Rogue looked down, her hair falling forward and obscuring her face. She looked back up with glistening eyes. "Ah understand, Professor. Thanks for telling me. Ah- Ah guess Ah kinda already knew an' just didn't wanna accept it. Ah never felt like Ah was gettin' anywhere with the things we were tryin'."

Charles nodded. "I was starting to get that feeling as well, but I'd hoped that today we might be able to get somewhere. Unfortunately it appears we won't."

"At least we know what is causin' it now," Rogue said, trying to sound optimistic.

Charles patted her shoulder. "That's the spirit. I'd still like to have these sessions to start working on your block and perhaps discover another way to get past it."

Rogue smiled. "Alright."

Charles pulled his hand from her shoulder and folded his hands in his lap. "I finally got the chance to talk to Mister LeBeau last night."

Rogue looked up at him curiously.

"Quite a nice young man. We discussed him staying here and it appears he would like to stay here at least for the foreseeable future."

"Really?" Rogue asked, her eyes lighting up.

Charles hid a grin. "From what he told me, yes. He mentioned he'd offered to help you with your powers."

Rogue nodded. "Yeah. Since he had trouble controlling them too, he though he could help me." A frown creased her face. "But now, will he really be able to help me?"

Charles nodded. "I believe he may be able to help you far better than I can and I suggest you take any help he offers. From what Ororo told me he had a similar traumatic experience when his powers developed, and he overcame it after a few years. Perhaps you'll be able to break free of your own with his help."

Rogue smiled, relieved that he believed Remy could still help her. "Alright."

Charles leaned back in his chair. "Well, I won't keep you from your lunch. Go on and enjoy yourself. I'll see you tonight at dinner. From what Ororo told me, it will be quite a treat."

* * *

Remy walked through the corridor of the third floor and down the steps to the next floor. He checked his watch and saw it was almost noon. He patted his pockets to make sure he had remembered everything he wanted to take into town. _'Now I just have to find Stormy and get her to let me use her car or get a ride from someone else,_' he thought to himself. _'I'll have to see if Rogue's got anymore classes or if she'd like to head out and get some lunch somewhere away from the mansion_.'

As he walked down the first floor corridor he began to pass students of various ages, all giving him curious stares and looks, which he ignored. 'Class must have just gotten out,' he thought as he passed more students on the staircase. His eyes lit up when he saw a familiar person climbing the stairs, her flashy hoop earrings standing out from the bottom of the staircase.

She glanced up and smiled. "Hey Gambit, how's it goin'?"

"_Bonjour_, Jubilee. I been alright – ain't been much to do today."

"Lucky." She said enviously. "I've had classes and homework all morning. I'm finally off on a break now. What're you up to?"

"Actually, I was wonderin' if you knew where Storm or Rogue were."

"Professor Munroe just started teaching a class with one of the lower grades I think. And Rogue's off in the kitchen with Bobby gettin' ready for their 'date'." Jubilee said, throwing her fingers up in quotes.

Remy felt like his stomach had decided to drop a few hundred feet into the earth. "Date?" he asked.

"Yeah, I guess he's trying to make up with her – they've been having a bunch of arguments lately. He's taking her out on the grounds for some sort of picnic he's got all planned. A little too romantic for him to have thought up himself if you ask me, but Rogue seemed pretty glad he's trying to make things up." Jubilee said. _'Poor Kitty_,' she thought to herself remembering the glum expression that came over her face when she found out.

"Oh, okay." Remy said, slipping his hands into his pockets.

"Why d'you ask?" Jubilee asked him.

Remy shrugged. "I was just goin' into town an' wanted t'borrow Stormy's car, an' I wondered if Rogue would wanna get some lunch or somet'ing."

"Well, I'd offer to go with you, but I've gotta grab something from my room, eat quick an' head back to class." Jubilee said.

Remy nodded and flashed her a small smile. "Well den, I won' keep ya."

"See ya!" Jubilee said as she walked away. She turned when she reached the top of the stairs and watched Remy walk away almost dejectedly. She felt the gears in her head begin to turn, and then everything clicked into place. _'He's __**so**__ got the hots for Rogue_!' she thought, almost giggling aloud. _'He looked like I kicked his puppy when I told him Bobby was taking Rogue out_.' She shook her head. _'Kitty might not have to wait as long as she thinks - if I was Rogue I'd be dropping Bobby in a flash if a hottie like Remy wanted me_.' She grinned to herself, amused by her recent discoveries of what amounted to two love triangles in the making at the school. "Maybe this place is more like school back home than I thought," she whispered to herself.

* * *

Logan trudged out the back door of the mansion and sniffed the air, picking up the now familiar scent of the Cajun that had come into their lives several days before. His eyes scanned the grounds and he spotted him sitting on a bench near the basketball court.

Logan put his hands in his pockets and took a deep breath before moving across the lawn in his direction, trying to come up with some sort of conversation starter. He remembered the conversation he'd had the previous night with Ororo.

_"Logan, I have a favor to ask you."_

_Logan looked up from his steak to Ororo who stood next to his table. "Yeah? Whatcha need, 'Ro?"_

_"I'd – well, I'd like you to talk to Gambit. I'd like you to try to befriend him – get to know him."_

_Logan raised his eyebrows. "What's the matter, kid ain't gettin' along with anyone?"_

_"No, it's not that, Logan. He's already become pretty close friends with Rogue and met some of her friends already. I just – you're one of my best friends, and so is he, and I'd like you to at least know each other, and hopefully get along with each other."_

"_I'm hardly a people person, Ro. You know that. I tend to rub people the wrong way. That's why these come in handy so often," he said, flexing his hand in which his adamantium blades were sheathed._

_"I know you're a little... blunt and many people don't like that, but I'd like you to at least try to get to know him. For me."_

_Logan reluctantly nodded. "Alright, I'll talk to the kid. Not makin' any promises though."_

_Ororo leaned down and hugged him firmly, a large smile on her face, making him feel a strange gladness he'd agreed to talk to Gambit. "Thank you Logan." she said, happily. "And – I think you'll like him if you get to know him."_

Logan moved closer to the bench and saw Ororo's friend take a drag on a cigarette, closing his eyes for a few seconds before tilted his head to the side, exhaling a stream of smoke out of the corner of his mouth.

He looked up when Logan's shadow loomed across his seat. "Hey kid. Mind some company?"

He shook his head. "_Non_. Y'can sit if y'want."

Logan settled on the bench next to him. Gambit reached into a pocket and snapped open a slim case. He tapped out the end of a cigarette and held it out to him. "Want one?"

Logan sniffed the air, catching a sweet, almost cinnamon smell lingering from Remy's last drag, and glanced at the black paper of the cigarette. He reached out and pulled it from the case. "Djarum?" He asked, impressed.

Gambit nodded and took another drag.

Logan tapped it, bringing the tobacco toward the end. Djarum Black was made by an Indonesian company and was unique in its inclusion of various flavored and scented cloves included in the tobacco, giving it a distinct aroma. '_Kid's got good taste_,' Logan thought.

Logan grunted. "Usually a cigar man, but these I like. Got a light?" he asked, putting it to his lips.

Gambit reached out and tapped the end with his finger, and it glowed slightly before it puffed and ignited. Logan nodded his thanks.

They were both silent for nearly a minute before Remy spoke up. "So, M'sieu Claws - "

Logan broke him off and extended a hand. "It's Logan."

Remy shook his hand. "Gambit."

Logan sighed. "Wanted t'say sorry," he said gruffly, "about the whole thing up in Storm's room. Wouldn'ta beaten the crap outta you if I knew you were hurt like you were."

Remy shook his head. "Don' worry 'bout it. If I'd come in an' heard a girl scream an' saw someone on top of her I'd've done de same t'ing."

Logan nodded. "So what's your story, Cajun?"

Remy shrugged. "From Louisiana, obviously. Met Stormy a few years ago an' she said I could come here an' stay whenever I wanted to."

"What d'you do for a living?"

Remy smiled. "I'm – I guess you could say I'm an art an' gem dealer."

Logan snorted. "Don't lie to me, Cajun." He tapped his nose. "I c'n smell if somone's lyin' t'me."

Remy's smile faltered. "Fair enough." He sighed. "I'm a professional thief."

Logan's eyebrows rose. "Really."

Remy nodded. "Yep, part of a group called de T'ieves Guild."

Logan grunted. "Actually met someone once who was part of the Guild. You know an' old-timer named Jean-Luc?"

Remy's cigarette nearly dropped from his mouth with surprise. "_Oui_," he said, "he's my _père. _Real name's Remy LeBeau."

Logan chuckled. "Damn small world. I met Jean-Luc years ago – actually helped him outta a bit of trouble an' he treated me to a nice dinner with his wife, Marie. She was pregnant then – guess that was you?"

"_Non_, dat woulda been Henri. Jean-Luc adopted me."

Logan nodded. "Yeah, I was gonna say, that'd make you about thirty, an' you don't look even near it. So how's that old swamp-rat doin'?"

"He's doin' pretty well for hisself. He's actually de Guildmaster now."

"Good for him. Shoulda known – he was always pretty ambitious back then," Logan said, a small smile on his face.

Logan looked over to Remy. "So how'd a thief like you meet up with someone like Ororo?"

"I was doin' a job, an' I met her. She'd got amnesia an' couldn't remember much. I couldn' just leave her wanderin' around so I took her wit' me an' she stayed wit' me, even helped me with a few jobs, 'till she got her memory back."

Logan shook his head. "'Ro as a thief. Who woulda guessed." He mused.

Remy chuckled. "She was actually pretty damn good, too. Sneakiest woman I ever seen. Found out she was already a pickpocket, an' I hadta check my wallet all de time."

Logan laughed. "You plannin' on stickin' around? I know 'Ro hasn't shut up 'bout you an' how much she wants you to stay."

Remy nodded. "Yeah, I t'ink I'll stick around. I like it here."

"Good. 'Ro will be happy t'hear that." Logan said.

Logan glanced over to him. "So what'd you do to make someone go ta the trouble of hirin' a sniper to take you out?"

Remy's jaw clenched for a moment. "Got involved wit' de wrong people dat didn' want t'leave any loose ends from de job dey hired me t'do."

Logan knew he wasn't telling the full story, but he could tell Remy didn't want to get further into it, so he didn't press him.

They sat in silence for several minutes, and Logan noticed Remy's gaze drifting constantly toward a small group of trees near the edge of the forest. He glanced there himself and saw Rogue and Bobby sitting on a blanket, eating off of paper plates. He watched Bobby slowly slip his arm around Rogue's shoulders.

Logan saw Remy reach down and jab the butt of his cigarette into the slab of cement beneath the bench to extinguish it. He couldn't help a grin when he caught a scent from him. "Jealous?"

Remy looked up, surprised. "What?"

Logan tilted his head toward the pair in the distance. "You jealous? You sure smell it."

Remy let out a frustrated sigh. "Maybe," he said tersely. "Dat a problem?"

Logan chuckled. "Calm down, Cajun. Didn't say it was a problem." He said, and then looked seriously at Remy. ""Ro said you an' Rogue're gettin' friendly. Now that I talked t'you, found out Jean-Luc raised ya, I don't mind that much. You hurt her, though…" Logan trailed off, and let the adamantium claws on one hand slide partway through the skin of his hand for Remy to see. He remembered wanting to give Bobby a little scare earlier that week when he found out about their fights.

Remy nodded firmly. "Got it."

"You really like her?" Logan asked.

"_Oui_," Remy breathed. "Been wit' an' met a lotta girls over de years, but I don' t'ink I ever felt quite like dis before."

Logan nodded in understanding, thinking sadly of Jean. "Know what you mean, kid. My advice? Let her know, an' let her choose. Don't usually end happy if y'force it."

Remy looked at him appreciatively. "Thanks. I'm gonna see if Stormy's outta class yet. Don' t'ink I can stomach watchin' dis anymore."

Logan laughed. "Don't blame you. Well, I don't think 'Ro's gonna be done for another hour or so."

"Damn," Remy said. "I wanted t'get her to gimme a ride to town."

"How'd you get here?"

"Walked. Made it most of de way here on my fav'rite bike, but dat's trashed an' at de bottom of de river after I got shot."

Logan grimaced. "Damn, that sucks. Well, you can borrow one of the cars over in our garage. Most people won't mind if you borrow theirs, long as you bring it back in one piece. Just keep your hands off the Lowrider – she's mine."

Remy nodded and stood up from the bench, taking one last glance in Rogue's direction. "Alright, thanks. See you 'round, Logan."

"Later, Cajun. If y'talk to your dad, tell him I said hi."

Logan stubbed out his cigarette, and leaned back on the bench. He'd almost been dreading talking to Remy, worried he'd never be able to get along with him for Ororo, but he'd been pleasantly surprised. '_Kid reminds me of a younger version of me_,' Logan thought to himself.

In fact, the intense jealousy he'd sensed coming from Remy made him think of when he'd come to the Mansion and met Jean, and subsequently Scott. '_Damn sure hope the kid has better luck than I did_,' he thought, his hand clenching unconsciously over the pain Jean's death still caused him.

He glanced over at Bobby and Rogue. He'd seen the strain in their relationship ever since he'd come back and she'd mentioned it to him. He'd been unsure about the two of them even before Alkali and the attack on the mansion, but he'd grown to respect Bobby even though he'd rubbed Logan the wrong way when they'd met.

Logan was worried that Rogue was just hanging on to her relationship because she was afraid she wouldn't have the luck of finding someone who was at least willing to try a relationship with her. He hadn't seen a smile on her face since she'd told him her worries about Bobby and Kitty.

Logan stood up from the bench, and walked back toward the mansion. '_Maybe I'll do another run in the Danger Room_,' he thought. The physical exertion and stress release always helped him see things more clearly; it gave him more time to think and let his body do what it did best – what both his mutation and the sinister tinkering of Stryker and the rest of the Weapon X program had designed it to do.

* * *

Bobby leaned back against the tree, casually slipping an arm over Rogue's shoulders as she nibbled on an Oreo from the package he'd brought with him to finish off their picnic. He was glad Piotr had thought of this. He'd been able to spend nearly an hour already with Rogue and hadn't broken into an argument yet – something extremely rare in recent months.

Rogue leaned her head back onto his shoulder, happy he'd taken the time to set all this up. She'd felt her past concerns over the state of their relationship fade as the afternoon wore on.

Rogue turned her head to look up into his eyes. "Thanks for this, Bobby. Ah really needed t'just spend some time with ya like this."

Bobby nodded, smiling. "I think we both needed this."

Rogue leaned up to give him a quick kiss on the cheek, and frowned mentally when she felt his body tense up as her lips pressed against his cheek. '_Cool down, girl_',' she thought to herself, '_don't start something over nothing and ruin your afternoon. You'd tense up too if you'd had the life sucked out of you the last time you kissed._'

Bobby carefully placed kissed her back, pressing his lips into her hair. "So how'd your session with the Professor go today? You sounded a little excited about it yesterday."

She bit her lip. "It went alright, same as usual," she found herself saying before she even consciously decided she wouldn't tell him yet what Charles had found.

Bobby turned his head when he heard the sound of a motor roaring to life from the garage in the distance. "Huh, wonder where Logan's headed off to."

Rogue shook her head. "That's not Logan's bike. Sound's like Scott's."

Bobby raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Are you sure? You can tell that from this far away?"

Rogue opened her mouth to reply but was cut off as the noise got louder as the motorcycle moved down the driveway. Rogue pointed down to the lower half of the drive, visible from their spot in the back.

Scott's V-Rod roared down the driveway, and the rider slipped the clutch, and popped it up into a precariously balanced wheelie that lasted out past their line of sight at the gate. Rogue shook her head in amusement when she realized who has been on the bike.

Bobby looked at her. "Was that the Gambit guy Storm's letting stay here?"

Rogue nodded.

"Hm," Bobby grunted, sounding disapproving "Show off."

Rogue slapped him in the side. "Oh, like you don't show off," she said in a teasing tone.

"Yeah yeah yeah." Bobby grumbled and glanced over at her. "I really don't like that guy."

Rogue looked at him quizzically. "Who, Gambit? Why not?"

Bobby shrugged. "I dunno – just a feeling. He just gives me the creeps."

"Bobby, you met him _once_, and talked to him for like ten seconds."

Bobby shifted uncomfortably against the tree. "I know, and sometimes that's all you need to tell if someone is trustworthy or not. My gut tells me he's bad news. I know Annie pulled you into helping him out because you want to get some experience in nursing and all that, but you don't have to hang around with him."

Rogue's eyes narrowed. "Bobby, first, Annie didn't pull me inta helpin' – Ah wanted to. And second, Ah'm not hanging around with him because of that: Ah've been hanging around him because Ah like him. He's a nice guy, and _mah_ gut doesn't tell me he's bad news."

Bobby held out his hands placatingly. "Rogue, the guy came here with _bullet wounds_. That's hardly what I'd call good news. I just – I just don't think you should hang around him."

Rogue looked at him in shock. "Are you serious? Ah'm not going to go tell him Ah can't be friends with him 'cuz he got shot by someone! Ah like him, an' he's a friend who's willin' ta stay around when he knows 'bout my powers. Ah'm not going to stop being his friend just because ya – ya – you're _jealous_, aren't ya?" She finished, realizing what his problem with Remy was; the reason behind his behavior down in the medlab and when she'd introduced him to Remy became clear to her.

She laughed, and broke him off before he could start talking. "Ah can't believe because you're jealous of him ya'd try to -" She just shook her head, pulling away completely from Bobby.

"Rogue, please, I'm sorry – I didn't want to try to start a fight with you. I just don't like the guy at all. It's not that I'm jealous – well, okay maybe a little jealous seeing him running his eyes all over you at lunch yesterday – but I also don't trust him. He's hiding something."

"So? What if he is? Ah don't care, and you're just going to have to accept that I want to be his friend." She said, starting to stand up.

Bobby grabbed her hand. "C'mon Rogue, I said I'm sorry. Its fine if you want to be friends with him – I don't like him but I'll accept it. I can't promise I'll be nice to him, but, I'll try to not be a jerk. Please, don't let this ruin our afternoon together."

Rogue wavered between standing and sitting. She finally pulled her hand from Bobby's. "Ah'm sorry Bobby. Ah don't wanna spend the afternoon mad at ya, an' that's all that's gonna happen today. Maybe we should just... maybe we should just try this another time. Ah know ya didn't try to start a fight, but you did, an' Ah think we both need some time ta cool down."

Bobby slowly released her hand, and reluctantly nodded. "I- alright Rogue. You're right. We're just going to end up saying something we don't mean. I'll – you go on, I'll take care of all this stuff." He said, gesturing at the picnic supplies.

Rogue nodded and stood the rest of the way. She tucked her hair behind her ears, and looked down, walking slowly away from him. She blinked away tears that were blurring her vision. She had been words away from breaking up with him, but a mixture of not wanting to do something she might regret without thinking it through first, and a heart-wrenching fear of being alone without someone willing to get close to her stopped her from saying it.

* * *

As she entered the mansion she ignored Kitty's worried questions when she saw her red-rimmed eyes, and she walked past her friend and past the stares of other students, and up the stairs. She passed Danielle on the stairs, who asked her what was wrong.

"Ah'm alright, Dani. Ah just want some time alone. Ah don't wanna talk to anyone right now."

She strode down the hall and raised her hand to knock on Remy's door when she realized she'd just seen him leave. She let herself sink to the floor, leaning against Remy's door. She rested her forehead on her knees and wiped her eyes with her gloves.

She didn't know how long she sat like that, but she finally heard soft footsteps approaching her, and she heard the person sit down next to her.

"Hey." A voice said, and she finally looked up to see Logan, who had sweat stains on his shirt and looked like he'd just gotten out of the Danger Room. "You alright?" He asked. "Dani told me y'were upset about somethin' an' she was worried 'bout you."

She felt her lower lip tremble slightly. "No." She whispered, shaking her head. "No, Ah'm not alright."

Logan moved his arm to place it around her shoulders, and she leaned back against him against him. "What's up, Darlin'? Did Bobby do somethin'?" He asked her gently.

Rogue nodded. "Ah thought our whole picnic thing was goin' great, an' then all of a sudden Bobby got all jealous an' blew up on me over Re-Gambit," she said, correcting herself. "Bobby basically told me he didn't want me t'be friends with Gambit or even give him the time of day 'cuz he's jealous an' doesn' like him. He claims he's 'bad news'."

Logan tightened his arm around her shoulder. "You know he doesn't have any right t'tell ya who you can be friends with, right? I hope you gave that kid a nice tellin' off."

Rogue managed a small smile. "Ah know. An' Ah did tell him off."

"Good." Logan said, and then looked down at her. "But what else is wrong? If it was just Bobby being a tool, you'd just be givin' him the evil eye all day. But you're up here an' you've been cryin', so somethin' else is botherin' you too."

Rogue closed her eyes as tears threatened again. "Well, Ah found out this mornin' mah mind's all screwed up, an' Ah might not be able t'touch anyone for years." She said bitterly.

"What d'you mean? Where'd you hear that?"

"Th'Professor. He finally figured out what's wrong with me. Ah've got some sort of block in mah mind, an' he thinks it could take up ta ten years b'fore Ah can ever get control of mah powers." She said, swiping away a tear that began to trickle down her cheek.

Logan reached down and nudged her chin until she was looking up at him. "Listen, Chuck's a smart guy. Doesn't mean he's right about everything. Or that he's tellin' the complete truth. Could be he wants you to try to get control on your own – thinks it'd be more healthy for you t'overcome it yourself than him doin' it for you. He told me he couldn't help me get back any more of my memories of my life before Weapon X b'cause if he did it he wasn't sure I could handle it without breakin' mentally, where if I did it it'd come back gradual an' not overwhelmin'."

"D'you think so?" She asked him, looking up into his eyes.

Logan nodded and brushed her hair out of her face. "Yeah, I think so. I can go talk t'him for ya if you want – let him know how this is makin' you feel an' get him t'tell you everything."

Rogue gave him a watery smile. "Would you?"

Logan gave her a lopsided smile and tightened his grip on her. "Sure."

Rogue leaned her head again on his shoulder, and they sat like that for what seemed like an hour to her but was likely only minutes. "You'd make a good dad." She mumbled into his shirt.

Logan looked down at her in surprise, and hid a smile. "Thanks kid. If my kids turned out like you I might be decent, but I'd probably not get that lucky. 'Sides, diapers smell a heck of a lot worse when you've got a nose like mine."

Rogue chuckled. "Ah bet they would."

She looked at him with a serious expression then. "But really Logan, you'd be great. Ah - " she blushed, looking at him with embarrassment evident in her expression. "You're probably gonna laugh, but Ah sorta think of you as dad to me." She said quietly, ducking her eyes to avoid his face.

"I ain't gonna laugh at ya kid. Glad ya feel that way 'cuz I've been thinkin' of you as a daughter. A daughter I didn' hafta change diapers for, which is even better." He cleared his throat. "Sorry, I'm not that good at this kinda emotional stuff."

Rogue turned and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. "That's alright. You said ev'rything you needed to." She whispered.

* * *

Remy pulled the motorcycle into a spot between two cars along the main street of Salem Center. He'd glanced over the contents of the garage at the mansion and had run his eyes longingly over the Lowrider, but he didn't really feel like pissing Logan off, so the next thing that caught his eye was a shiny, well kept Harley V-Rod, which he'd quickly hotwired and drove off in, hoping the owner wouldn't notice it missing before he got back.

Remy hopped off the bike and strolled along the street, looking at the store fronts. Remy's first stop was at a game store where he immediately picked up three of the best decks of cards he could find.

Back on the street, he wandered along until he finally found a small electronics store selling cell phones. He brushed past several people and glanced around the store. An attractive young blond sat behind the counter, her chin on her hand with a bored look on her face.

He watched her perk up as he walked up to the counter, and she greeted him with a flirtatious smile. "Hi there. Anything I can help you with?"

Remy leaned his elbows on the counter directly across from her and gave her a large grin. "Matter o'fact, _chère_, dere is. I'd like t'get a phone."

She smiled at him, and waved a hand behind her at the phones displayed behind the counter. "See anything you like?"

"_Oui_, I see a lot dat I like," He said, smirking when she blushed.

"W-well, we've got this model, it's pretty low end – nice and cheap, but I personally think it works a lot better than some of these more fancy ones." She said, waving her hand across the other phones.

"Well, my _père_ raised me t'realize de lady is always right. So, how much is dat one?"

"With a networking plan it'll be around sixty bucks."

He reached into a pocket and pulled out his SIM card. "Won' be needin' dat. Just want a cheap replacement. Old phone decided it wanted t'see if it could swim."

The girl grinned. "I know how that is. I was in New York once and dropped mine down a sewer drain. Anyway, with just the phone and no networking you're looking at about twenty bucks." She leaned closer to him. "Usually it's thirty, but for you I'll go twenty."

Remy smiled. "_Bien_. I'll take it."

Remy pulled a leather wallet from his pocket and peeled out three ten dollar bills, and placed them in her hand. "Keep de change, _chère_." He grabbed the box containing the phone. "Thanks for y'help."

"No problem. Come back anytime." She called after him, before leaning back on the counter, staring dreamily after him.

As the door swung shut behind Remy, he heard one of the men he'd brushed past as he entered the store ask his companion with concern in his voice: "Hey, where's my wallet?"

Remy bit his the inside of his cheek to hide a smirk as he pulled out the leather wallet he'd used earlier, and removed the rest of the money and slipped it into his pocket before he surreptitiously tossed the wallet in a trashcan along the street.

_'Wonder what you'd think if you knew you were buying dinner tonight for a bunch of mutants, _mon ami_,'_ Remy thought as he walked toward what looked to be the only food market in the small town.

* * *

_A/N: Hope it was enjoyable. I think the first version (on my laptop) was better and I couldn't tweak this one quite enough to be as good, but oh well. Hope you enjoyed the abundance of Logan this chap after his relative scarceness in earlier chapters. I kept the Rogue/Bobby stuff as short as possible so as to not prolong side effects such as nausea, queasiness, and general discomfort ;)._

_Oh so close to a breakup there (you didn't think it would be THAT easy did you?), and poor Remy doesn't realize he missed out on comforting SadRogue. Should be a lot of Romy next chapter._

_So, until next time, please try to find the time to leave some feedback (and thanks to all who did so last time – I tried to reply to them all but may have missed one or two)._


	8. Chapter 8: Anger and Attraction

_**Disclaimer: X-men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway ;)**_

_A/N: Enjoy the chapter – R&R! _

**Chapter 8: Anger and Attraction**

* * *

Scott Summers shifted his ruby tinted glasses when he felt them slip slightly down the bridge of his nose, not wanting to accidentally blast a hole in the elevator door.

He had always felt like he had been both gifted and cursed with his mutant powers – while he could emit powerful, coherent beams of energy from his eyes, he was unable to control them. The ruby red quartz of his glasses, as well as the visor he wore as an X-man, contained the beams and reflected them back inward, keeping them confined until he removed the barrier.

The elevator door slid open on the ground floor of the mansion and Scott walked past the computer lab and through the door that led to the garage. Over the past few weeks he'd found himself coming here more and more, trying to take his mind from the grief of losing Jean by working on his motorcycle and the other vehicles in the garage.

Scott stopped in his tracks when he realized his V-Rod was not in the garage. "Dammit, Logan," he growled to himself. "Why didn't he just take his own bike?"

Scott sighed angrily, and resorted to checking the oil of the rest of the vehicles in the large garage. He found the task too simple to keep his mind from drifting to Jean, and gave up, stalking back through the garage into the mansion. Scott rubbed his forehead, and decided to try a Danger Room simulation – it seemed to work for Logan, so maybe it would work for him.

As Scott neared the main staircase, he was surprised to see Rogue and Logan walking down together. His head turned automatically back toward the garage and then he looked at Logan again. "Logan. I thought you were gone, because my bike was missing."

Logan quirked an eyebrow. "I haven't taken your bike since I got my own, Cyke."

"Well, if you didn't take it, who did?"

Rogue cleared her throat. "Um, Ah saw Gambit riding it 'bout thirty minutes ago."

"Ah, he said he was goin' into town f'r somethin'. To be fair, I did tell him he could borrow any of the vehicles in the garage, an' told him no one would mind…. Guess ev'ryone likes y'r taste in bikes," Logan said.

"Very funny, Logan - wait, did you say _Gambit_ took my bike? As in, Ororo's friend Gambit? I'd heard we had someone visiting, but not who it was. I didn't realize we had a policy to let _professional thieves_ stay in the mansion," Scott said angrily.

Logan shrugged. "Guess you'll have t'talk to Chuck about that."

"I think I will." He said, spinning on his heel and heading back the way he came toward Charles' office.

Logan chuckled softly, having held in his amusement over Remy during the conversation. He glanced at Rogue who was staring after Scott with a mixture of shock and surprise evident on her face.

"Ain't anyone ever tell ya you're gonna catch flies like that?" He asked her. "C'mon, think I wanna hear this," he said, nudging her arm.

Rogue snapped her mouth shut and looked up at Logan. "Thief?"

Logan nodded, grinning at her obvious surprise at the news. "That's what he told me at least."

Rogue's eyes slowly grew as she realized something. "That's what Storm was talkin' about when she told me that the way he was raised he got involved in criminal stuff…." She muttered to herself as she let Logan lead her after Scott.

"Yep." Logan said. "His dad's the leader of a big thievin' ring called th' Thieves Guild – basically a family business for anyone that's a member."

As they neared the Professor's study, they saw the door open, and Scott waiting as a student exited – Rogue recognized her as Sally, the girl who'd survived the tunnel murders. She gave her a smile as she walked past, and Sally smiled back, waving shyly.

Scott entered the office and leaned his hands on the desk in front of Charles. "We need to talk, Charles."

Charles nodded, sensing the anger coming off of Scott. "What would you like to discuss, Scott?" He said calmly.

"Our little 'visitor'. What were you thinking, letting him stay here? Or did Storm leave out the little fact that the man is a professional thief – a criminal?"

Charles frowned. "Both Ororo and Mister LeBeau were quite clear and direct about what he's been involved in and his family ties."

"Then why is he being allowed to stay here?"

* * *

Logan turned as he heard footsteps behind him from where he stood near the office door. Ororo turned around the corner, flashing him a frazzled smile when she saw him and Rogue. "Hey you two, how are you doing today?" She asked, hoping they were having a better day than she was – Fridays were always the worst days for her classes because all of the kids were antsy and misbehaving as anticipation of the coming weekend grew throughout the day. "I swear-" she began, and then saw Scott through the slightly open door. "What's going on?" she asked.

Logan shrugged. "Scott found out Gambit was staying here – apparently he doesn't think too highly of him. Oh, and Remy went into town on Cyke's bike, but I think that was sorta my fault."

"Oh no," Ororo groaned, and walked up to the doorway to see what she could do to defuse the situation. When she'd finally regained her memory she'd gotten into contact with the rest of the X-men, who'd flown down to visit her and take her back with them. Scott hadn't gotten along with Remy, and when he'd found out he was a thief, things had gotten even worse, leading to Remy basically kicking him out of his house.

Ororo raised her hand to knock on the partially closed door when she heard Charles speaking, causing her to pause.

"I am allowing him to stay here because he is a mutant who has asked for my help."

Scott let out a disbelieving laugh. "So we're just going to let a career criminal – a thief – stay here under our roof because he claims he needs our help? We should be turning him into the police at the very least, not giving him a place to stay"

"Yes, Scott, I am letting him stay just as we are letting little Sally stay here. She lived down in the tunnels where they stole daily just to eat. Would you have me kick her out as well? I'm quite certain that many mutants here have stolen in their lives to get by. I'm not going to punish Gambit for his past and how he was raised. He will have a place here for however long he would like to stay." Charles paused. "Come in, Ororo."

She entered, and Scott snapped his head around, looking at her with a glare. "I can't believe you, Ororo –" he began, but she cut him off.

"Scott, please. If you want to kick Gambit out of the mansion because he's a thief, you'll have to kick me out for being one as well."

She saw his eyebrows furrow. "Ororo, what you did without your memory while you were with him, you can't be blamed for that. At worst it was basically peer pressure from a man mentally a few years older than you at the time who was giving you a place to stay."

Ororo shook her head. "I'm not talking about that, Scott. When I was young, I lived in Kenya. I was a thief and a pickpocket for the first ten years of my life until Charles found me. So if Gambit leaves, so do I."

Scott looked at her in shock for several moments. "I – you never-"

"Never told you? No, I didn't. I didn't want you, Jean, and Hank to think poorly of me. But that's who I was for the first ten years of my life. If Gambit cannot be trusted because he was raised a thief then I can't be all that trustworthy either, can I?"

Scott's shoulders sank, all his anger clearly deflating. "I'm – I'm sorry, Ororo, I –" He sighed. "I was just trying to get my mind off things by working down in the garage, but my bike was missing, and when I found out who it was that took it, I guess I overreacted." He turned to look apologetically at the Professor. "Sorry Charles, for blowing up on you like that."

Storm placed a hand on his shoulder. "Scott, I'm sure he didn't take your bike to piss you off – he likely didn't even know it was yours. I'll talk to him when he comes back and make sure he doesn't take it again."

Scott managed a small smile. "Thanks. And Ororo."

"Hm?"

"We wouldn't have thought less of you if you'd told us."

She smiled slightly. "Thanks. So please, try to do the same for Gambit. Even if you don't trust him, trust me and my judgment of him, okay?"

Scott sighed wearily and then nodded. "Alright." He said before turning and leaving the room.

Ororo sank into the seat across the desk from Charles. "Sorry, I probably should have let him know so he wouldn't blow up like that."

Charles shook his head gently at her. "You have nothing to apologize for, Ororo. Scott is responsible for his own actions." He sighed. "Unfortunately these angry outbursts have been getting worse, and he refuses to let me talk with him about Jean. I'm afraid he's quietly letting his grief build up without dealing with it. And there's nothing I can do to help him." Charles said sadly.

"I can try to talk to him when he's had time to cool down over Remy; maybe try to get him to talk to a therapist or something. It can't be healthy how he's burying this."

Charles smiled. "I think he might be more willing to hear it from you."

Storm looked at him uncertainly. "Probably. I hope he will." She said.

Charles shifted through some papers on his desk. "I hope so."

He raised his eyes to hers. "Did you come to see me about something other than Scott?"

Ororo leaned forward in her chair and opened her mouth to speak.

Xavier smiled. "Ah, Mister LeBeau. Well, I was telling Scott the truth – Remy is welcome here. He expressed some interest to me in staying here for the foreseeable future. In fact, when I asked him he agreed to help us teach Scott's Phys Ed and Shop classes."

Ororo's face lit up. "Really? That's great Charles. Thank you for giving him a chance. I've been trying since I got my memories back to get him to get out of thieving and start a new life, and I'm so grateful you're helping him do that."

Charles smiled. "There's no need to thank me, Ororo. I trust your judgment on Mister LeBeau and having talked to him I've seen he is a very nice young man who's had a lot of bad and unavoidable things happen to him growing up, and I think all of us here know what that is like."

"You won't regret giving him a chance here, Charles."

Charles nodded to her. "I'm sure I won't. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a physics class in about fifteen minutes that I have to prepare for."

Ororo stood from her chair. "Alright, Charles. I'll see you later tonight at dinner."

* * *

Ororo walked out of her classroom a few hours later, shutting off the lights after she had straightened up the room from her last class for the day. She walked down the main hall, and stopped in front of the kitchen. She'd noticed the door was closed, which was unusual in the Mansion – usually the doorstop keeping it open was never removed.

Ororo twisted the knob and opened the door, and felt her mouth begin to water from the smell that wafted through the air. She saw Remy, with his back turned to her, pulling chicken from a frying pan and setting it down on a plate.

"How was y'class t'day?" He asked, causing her to jump. She didn't realize he'd heard her come in. He turned around, grinning, and put the plate of chicken in the fridge as he went back to stirring one of four large pots he'd set up on the oven burners.

Ororo walked up behind him. "Hectic." She said, looking over his shoulder at the dark brown roux – basically a broth of flour and vegetable oil – in the pots. "Gumbo?" she asked.

Remy glanced over his shoulder at her and nodded. "_Oui_," he said, "Figured it'd be de easiest t'make an' most people will like it."

"It smells great. Thanks for doing this."

"No problem, Stormy. No offense, but you look pretty frazzled t'day. Glad I offered t'do dis for ya so y'don' have to worry 'bout it."

Remy slowed his stirring as the roux darkened further to an almost chocolate brown, and then he reached to the side where he'd piled up diced onions, celery, and bell peppers – known as the Holy Trinity in Cajun cuisine for its prevalence in most Cajun dishes – on four separate paper towels. He dumped each pile into its respective pot, and began stirring once again.

"Remy," Ororo began reluctantly, "I'd like to talk to you about something."

"Yeah, Stormy, what's up?" He asked, turning to look at her.

"Next time you go into town could you borrow a different vehicle?"

Remy blushed. "Sure. I was kinda hopin' whoever owned de bike wouldn' notice, but I guess dey did, huh?"

Storm laughed. "Oh, yes, they did notice, and weren't too happy. You took Scott's bike, and once he found out it was you that had taken it he made quite a scene with Charles."

Remy grunted, raising an eyebrow. "One-Eye is still 'round? I hadn't seen him – I was kinda hopin' he'd left. He hidin' away wit' his hot red-head or she dump him yet?"

Remy was surprised to see tears come to Ororo's eyes. "Remy, Jean's dead. She was killed a little over a month ago. Scott's the one I was taking over cooking for because he's having a hard time coping."

Remy let go of the ladle and pulled Ororo into a hug. "Damn, Stormy. Y'never tol' me dat. You been hurtin' too, haven't ya?"

Ororo nodded into his chest. "Yeah, it's been a hard past month dealing with everything. I wanted to tell you the last time we talked on the phone but I didn't want to burden you with it when you were hundreds of miles away from me."

Remy rubbed her back. "I'm sorry, _ma soeur_. I know Jeannie was like a sister to ya."

He reluctantly pulled away several minutes later to check on the food. "Sorry Stormy – gotta add de meat in now." He said. He pulled the browned chicken from the fridge as well as a plate of andouille sausage he'd already sliced into small pieces, and slowly stirred them into the mixture in three of the pots, while adding more vegetables to the fourth pot.

Ororo wiped her eyes as he turned back to her. "Remy, please don't give Scott a hard time if you run into him. He's going through a really rough time. He and Jean got engaged after you met them, and it's really hurting him."

Remy nodded. "Yeah, of course Stormy. Be on m'best behavior if I see him." He looked at her sheepishly. "Didn' realize it was his bike, either."

Ororo smiled at him. "Thank you Remy."

Remy turned and added stock to each pot as well as salt and some cayenne pepper, and turned up the burners to bring the mixture to a boil.

"About how much longer do you think you'll need to cook?"

Remy eyed the pots. "Uh, maybe 'nother two an' a half hours an' I should be done wit' dis an' have de rice all cooked up."

Ororo nodded. "Okay, that way I can let everyone know about when to start heading in here for dinner."

"Alright, Stormy." He replied. "Y'should go get y'self a nap or somet'ing an' let me worry 'bout de gumbo, _hein_?"

Ororo ran a hand through her hair and nodded. "A nap sounds really great right now actually." She said, and began turning. She stopped suddenly and reached up a hand, running it along Remy's clean-shaven jawline. "You shaved," she said in surprise.

"Yeah, got a razor in town today."

Her eyes twinkled. "Good. I was beginning to think I'd have to sneak into your room at night with an electric razor."

Remy chuckled. "Figured you'd be after me t'get rid of de shaggy look. Now outta here – go get some sleep an let de Chef do his work."

* * *

When Rogue, Jubilee, and Kitty entered the kitchen, they saw most of the student body already seated at tables, waiting eagerly for dinner. Rogue's eyebrows rose when she saw not Ororo, but Remy adding the finishing touches to dinner, while Ororo stood nearby, waiting to help him pass the food out to everyone. Rogue walked over and stood next to Ororo. "Remy's cookin'?" she whispered to Ororo.

She nodded. "Yes, I told him I was going to cook and he insisted on taking over and making a Cajun dish for you all."

Jubilee crinkled her nose. "Man, I hate spicy foods." She complained.

Remy spun around with a shocked look on his face. He shook his head with mock sadness. "_Mon Dieu_! Dese places like McDonalds an' all dese restaurants claimin' dey're servin Cajun food've been brainwashin' all you Yanks t'think Cajun means tastes like crap while bein' spicy-as-hell." He said. "Don' let dem lie t'you – sure we sometimes put somet'ing in for a little kick, but not all dis spicy stuff dat destroys de flavor an' leaves y'with a numb tongue b'fore you're halfway done."

Jubilee just stared at him, and Ororo laughed. "I should have warned you not to get him started on Cajun food."

Remy saw Kitty eying the pots, and the chicken visibly floating in the top of the gumbo. He grinned. "Don' worry Kitty. I made a pot of Gumbo z'herbes for you an' de other vegetarians here."

Xavier broke up their conversation, his voice echoing in their minds rather than attempting to speak up over the numerous loud conversations of the dining area. '_I'd like your attention, please.'_

Once everyone had quieted down, he spoke. "Thank you. For those of you who have not heard, we have a guest with us." He said, gesturing toward Remy. "His name is Gambit, and he is a friend of Miss Monroe's. I expect you all to show him the same courtesy you show the rest of your fellow mutants."

"Thank you for preparing dinner for us, Gambit." He said, smiling warmly at the brown-haired mutant, who shifted uncomfortably at the attention of the entire room of mutants.

Remy shrugged. "No problem, Professor." He ran his eyes across the room. "Alright den, grab a bowl an' come on up. Y'in for a real treat tonight." He said. "An' don' be shy – dere's plenty here for seconds."

* * *

As the last few students moved toward their seats with heaping bowls of rice and gumbo, Remy filled his own bowl up and moved past the island and into the jumble of tables. He began to move toward Ororo where she sat with Logan, Scott, Kurt, and Charles, but as his eyes scanned the room he saw Bobby, Piotr, Sam, Danni, and Kitty at one table and Jubilee pulling a chair up to sit with them, but noticed Rogue was not at their table. He quickly spotted her sitting alone at a table in the corner.

Ororo caught his eye from across the room and pointed at the empty chair next to her, looking at him questioningly.

Remy shook his head and then inclined it toward the far end of the room. Ororo looked and realized what he was getting at. She nodded and gestured for him to go.

Remy walked to Rogue's table, where she sat with her back turned to the rest of her room. It looked like she'd eaten half of the bowl of gumbo he'd given her, and was now absentmindedly running her spoon through the remaining food.

Remy rounded the table, and sat down facing her. "C'mon, it can't taste _dat_ bad." He said.

She looked up, realizing who'd joined her. Her eyes widened. "Oh, no, it's not that, Remy. It tastes great. Ah'm just not feelin' that hungry."

Remy nodded, digging into his own bowlful with his spoon. "Glad y'like it," he said between mouthfuls. "So what's gotcha so down? A _belle fille_ like you shouldn' be frownin' so much. Gives y'early wrinkles."

A small smile made its way to Rogue's face. "It's not polite ta talk ta a lady 'bout her wrinkles." Then she sighed and looked down at her bowl. "Just haven't been havin' a good day."

Remy's mind began working over her statement – he'd thought she looked like she was having a great day when he'd left for town, spending the afternoon with her boyfriend. '_Something happen_?' he wondered, but decided not to press her on it.

"Dat's too bad. Hope dis gumbo's a bit o'sunshine on your bad day."

She smiled. "It is." She said, eating another spoonful. "Ah'm surprised – most of the guys 'round here couldn't cook t'save their lives – Logan just gets us pizza when its his turn for supper. Not used t'seein' a guy that can cook."

Remy shrugged. "Always loved cookin' t'ings. My _Tante_ started teachin' me when I was seven, an' I been cookin' ever since. Still, never been able t'make t'ings taste quite as good as she can."

Rogue smiled. "Your _tante_," she said, trying to remember what little French she knew, "that means Aunt, right?"

"_Oui_," Remy said. "She an' my _père _raised me, well, after my _père _adopted me. My mére – his wife, died 'bout a year after dey took me in, an' my _tante_'s been dere for m'brother an' me ever since."

"I'm sorry," Rogue said softly, placing her hand on his arm across the table.

Remy shook his head. "S'alright. Dat was a long time ago."

Remy glanced up, and saw Dani coming back from the island with a second bowl of gumbo. Rather than returning to the table she'd sat at before, she made her way to their table, and sat down next to Rogue. "Hey," she said, and looked over to Rogue. "You feelin' better? Jubes and I were worried when we saw you come sit over here by yourself."

Rogue flashed her a smile. "Yeah, I'm doing better. Can't be 'round this swamp rat too long before he starts tryin' t'cheer you up." She said, grinning at Remy. "Thanks, for before Dani." She said, referring to Dani getting Logan. "Sorry I brushed you off like that."

Danielle waved her hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it, Rogue. Y'should have let Jubes and me know you wanted to sit over here – we woulda just left Bobby sitting by himself."

Rogue shrugged. "You guys were already sittin' an' Ah didn' wanna make a scene with him."

Remy let his spoon clatter to the bottom of his empty bowl. "Avoidin' Bobby?" He asked her curiously.

She nodded. "We got inta a fight t'day. Part of mah bad day." She said.

Remy leaned forward over his empty bowl. "Well, y'know what'll take your mind offa all dat?"

Rogue looked at him curiously. "No, what?"

"You still up for ridin' t'morrow?"

Rogue's face brightened. "Yeah, of course. Ah was kinda thinkin' of leavin' early, 'round 8 tomorrow mornin' so we aren't ridin' in th'hottest part of the day."

"Sounds good. Y'might hafta wake me up – I tend t'sleep in."

Dani watched them, and considered offering to go riding as well, but Rogue seemed very happy with just the two of them heading out together.

Dani finished off her second bowl and sat back in her chair with a sigh. "That was great, Gambit. The Professor should hire you as our permanent cook." She said with a grin.

Remy laughed. "Well, I'm not plannin' on leavin' anytime soon, so I'll be makin' supper for ev'ryone when it gets to Scott's turn again."

Rogue perked up in her seat. "Glad you're stayin' around." She said, smiling at him shyly.

Remy quirked a lopsided grin at her, and glanced around the room, noticing most of the students as well as Charles and Logan finishing off their food and bringing their bowls to the sink. "Looks like ev'ryone's finishin' up." He said.

He nodded to Rogue's bowl which she had left untouched for most of their conversation. "You gonna finish dat?"

She looked at him apologetically. "No, Ah'm still not that hungry."

He grabbed his spoon and gestured to the bowl. "You mind?"

"No, go ahead," she said, surprised. She pushed the bowl toward him and he quickly dug in to the cooling food.

Dani nudged Rogue's arm. "You looking forward to Spring Break? Only two more weeks."

Rogue nodded. "Yeah, it'll be great t'not hafta worry 'bout gettin' stuff done for classes. What are you gonna do for break?"

"I'm actually going back home to Colorado, see my family and all that. What about you?"

Rogue shrugged. "Ah'm not really sure. Ah don' have anythin' planned." She said, wishing she could go home like Dani, but knowing her family was terrified of her and her abilities after she'd put Cody into a coma.

Dani looked at her sympathetically while mentally slapping herself in the head when she remembered Rogue and her relationship with her family. "Hey, if you don't come up with something by the time break starts I'll talk my parents into getting you a ticket and you can spend break with me."

Rogue looked at her hesitantly. "Really?"

Dani smiled. "Yeah, they'd love to meet one of my friends."

Rogue smiled slightly. "Okay, if nothin' comes up Ah'd love t'go out to Colorado with you. Never been there before."

"Well that settles it," Dani said firmly. "You've been really missing out if you've never been there. It'll be really beautiful this time of year – all the trees will be flowering, but there'll still be snow up in the mountains for skiing if you wanna do that."

Rogue laughed. "As long as they have bunny slopes, Ah'll be okay skiing. Ah went once with mah parents in Wyoming, an' Ah'm not that great at it."

Remy cleared his throat, drawing their attention away from their conversation. He stood up from his seat. "I'll leave you two ladies t'talk. I gotta start clearin' up after ev'ryone" He said, glancing at the now large stack of dishes sitting in the sink. He looked back to them and grabbed Danielle's bowl, placing it on top of the other two. "I'll take care of dat for ya." He said, winking at her.

He nodded to Rogue. "Don' leave without me tomorrow, _hein_? Jus' dump some water on my face if I won' wake up."

Rogue giggled. "Alright, Ah'll have to remember you gave me permission to do that."

As Remy left, Danielle shot Rogue an amused look.

"What?" Rogue asked.

Dani looked at her innocently. "Nothin'. Just thinking."

She leaned over giving Rogue a grin. "So, horseback riding, huh? Just the two of you, alone in the forest? Sounds pretty romantic." She said teasingly.

Rogue blushed brightly and looked away from her. "It's – it's not like that, Dani. Ah told him Ah liked to ride an' he said he does too, so Ah invited him along."

"So, none of it has to do with spending the day alone with the hottest guy in this place?"

Rogue's expression faltered, and she sighed. "Ah- maybe, Ah don't know." She said, placing her face in her hands. "Everything's so confusin', with Bobby, an' then this. Ah don't know what t'do."

Dani patted her gently on the back, glancing around to make sure that no one was eavesdropping on their conversation. She leaned in next to Rogue. "If Bobby keeps treating you like crap, you should just dump him. It's not worth it if he's not willing to change. And as for Gambit, I think he's got a crush on you. Don't worry Rogue, you'll figure it out. Whatever happens, whatever you end up doing, just follow your instincts and I think you'll be fine."

Rogue removed her face from her hands, her blush having faded significantly. "Thanks, Dani."

"No problem Rogue. Now, Kitty and Jubes and I were talking earlier, and we decided to play some _Rock Band_ up in my room after supper. Wanna join us?"

Rogue smiled and stood up. "Sure. As long as I don't hafta sing – Ah suck."

Dani chuckled. "Alright, I'm sure we can just switch between the rest of us. C'mon, let's go." Dani said, leading Rogue out of the kitchen. She caught Kitty's eye and gave her a thumbs up before she and Rogue headed up to Danielle's room.

* * *

"Well, you jus' make sure you wear y'life preserver an' do what Y'Uncle Henri tells y'to, okay _petite?_" He asked Sarah the next morning. She'd told him that Henri was taking her out on his boat on the lake next to their home later that afternoon.

"Jus' a minute," Remy said before she could answer, hearing a knock on his door.

He opened the door to see Rogue standing outside. She flashed him a smile. "Hey Remy - " She slapped a hand over her mouth when she saw him holding the phone. "Oops, Ah'm sorry," she whispered.

He shook his head. "_Non_, I can talk for a second." He said.

"Ah was just makin' sure yah were awake so we could go ridin'..." She said quietly.

Remy smiled. "Yeah, I'm up – I just gotta finish dis call an' get dressed – be ready in maybe fifteen minutes."

Rogue nodded and backed up from the doorway. "Ah'll go start gettin' the horses ready – meet yah down in th'stables."

"See ya in a few." Remy said, and watched her leave. She was already dressed for the ride, wearing a light, long-sleeved blouse and riding breeches.

Remy tore his eyes from her retreating backside, and brought the phone back to his ear. "Sorry 'bout dat _petite_."

"Who was that?" Sarah asked.

"Dat was a friend I made here. I'm headin' out horse ridin' this mornin'."

"Horses? They have _horses_ there?" She asked, her voice a mix of incredulity and excitement.

"Yeah, dey got a whole stable of 'em."

"Wow. I always wanted t'ride a horse. Could- could y'teach me how, Remy?" She asked him shyly.

"Yeah, Sarah, if y'wanna learn. What I hear, dere aren' too many people here dat like t'ride, so I t'ink de horses would like de attention."

He could hear the smile in her voice. "Thank you Remy – I can't wait. Well I should let ya go, have fun with your friend."

"Alright, _petite_, you have a good time out on de lake. Talk t'ya tomorrow."

* * *

Remy had changed into a pair of more comfortable pants that Storm had given him – ones that wouldn't bunch up while riding – and made his way out onto the grounds and toward the stables. The air still had a light chill, but the sun was quickly warming it.

As he entered the open stable door, he saw Rogue had already saddled two horses – Chestnut, and a dark brown mare – and she was checking their bridles.

"Sorry I took so long. Looks like you got dis all under control." He said.

She looked up, startled. "Oh, that's alright, Remy. Ah like doin' this."

She gently pulled the reigns of both horses and led them forward. "Ah saddled up Moondancer for yah. She's the least skittish around new people, so Ah figured she'd be the best for you t'start out with."

Remy took the reigns from her, and ran his hand over Moondancer's neck, letting her know where he was as he moved out of her vision. He climbed onto the saddle, and Rogue hopped onto Chestnut's saddle.

Remy gently squeezed his legs, and Moondancer responded with a slow walk next to her companion. After a minute of a walk, he slowed her to a stop, and Rogue slowed next to them so they could check the girth to make sure the saddle wasn't fastened too tight now that it had had a chance to shift from the riding.

Remy strapped Moondancer's slightly tighter, and they resumed their ride, Rogue moving slightly ahead to lead them toward a dirt trail that led into the forest.

They brought the two horses to a moderate trot, and made their way into the forest, the trees shading the quickly warming air. Remy watched Rogue's posture relax as they rode, and it seemed like riding took her mind off of everything else.

She slowed slightly until she came up even with him. "So, you're a thief." She said, stating, not asking.

His head snapped around, looking at her in surprise. He tipped his sunglasses down to stare at her. "Where'd you hear dat from?" He asked her.

"Scott. Ah guess he doesn' like ya very much an' he was askin' the Professor why we were lettin' a professional thief stay here."

Remy sighed. "Asshole," he muttered to himself.

He shrugged reluctantly. "Yeah, he got it 'bout right." He looked over at her curiously. "So, y'know I'm a thief – why'd you still wanna go out here wit' me?"

"Why d'ya wanna be out here with me knowin' Ah can kill ya just by touchin' ya?" She countered. She reached across the distance between the horses and squeezed his arm briefly. "Ah don' care if you're a thief. Ah've done some stealin' mahself when Ah ran away from home when mah powers came out. Sure, just things like shopliftin' an' not a bank robbery or somethin' like that, but still. Storm tol' me you were raised that way."

Remy smiled in relief, silently thanking God that she wasn't put off by what he did. "Yeah, my _pére_ is de leader of de T'ieves Guild. It's a big group of families in an organized crime ring. My _mere_, my _frère_, all my friends growin' up were part of it. 'Fact, only knew one or two dat weren't members."

"Not really somethin' you can just run away from, huh?" Rogue asked with a slight smile.

Remy chuckled. "_Non_. But maybe wit' most people thinkin' I'm dead now I'll be able t'start over."

"What'd you do as a 'professional thief'?" She asked curiously.

Remy laughed. "Dat'd be a _real_ long list. Bank heists, stealin' art an' jewelry from museums, stealin' from private collections, you name it an' I prob'bly did it."

Rogue looked a bit impressed, but she tried to hide it. "What's it like?"

"It's – really it's hard t'describe. Not much c'n match de adrenaline pumpin' through you durin' a job. Your heart's beatin' like it wants run outta your chest, ev'ry noise makes y'look 'round t'see if you're spotted – an' de adrenaline high lasts for a few hours after you're done. Not quite as good as sex, but damn close." He said, tilting his sunglasses to wink at her.

Rogue blushed and looked away from him. "What about gettin' shot? Does that happen a lot?"

Remy laughed. "All de time. Like I tol' you before, I've had plenty of stitchin' up my _frère _did for me. Getting' shot comes wit' de territory – one of de bad t'ings 'bout de business, even though de good more than makes up for it."

"But you still want out?"

Remy nodded, a weary expression on his face. "_Oui_. I wanna see what I c'n do with my life b'sides be a criminal. Already made more'n enough enemies, an' I don' want dem hauntin' me de rest of my life, makin' me scared t'settle down wit' my friends like Stormy. An' you." He said, muttering the last part.

Rogue pretended she hadn't heard, but as they guided their horses along the trail past the lake, she felt happiness welling up inside her knowing that Remy thought of her as close of a friend as Storm was to him.

* * *

Remy sat back, leaning against a tree as Rogue finished eating the sandwich she'd brought along. They'd come across a peaceful, sun-filled meadow, and stopped there for lunch. They had relieved the horses of their bridles and saddles and secured them to a nearby tree with halters and leadropes that Rogue had packed in the saddlebags they'd brought along.

When she'd washed down the last bite with a mouthful of water from her canteen, he leaned forward. "Rogue, d'you wanna try workin' on your powers?"

"Now?"

Remy shrugged. "I don' have anythin' else planned for t'day."

Rogue smiled, and then looked hesitantly to his face. "Ah'd like to. Ah – Ah'm really hopin' you'll be able t'help me, you're sorta my only hope right now. Ah was talkin' to the Professor, an' he's thinkin' that his way could take years b'fore Ah can touch anyone."

Remy touched her arm. "Sorry t'hear dat. I hope I c'n help ya out."

Rogue scooted closer so she was sitting cross-legged across from him. "So what do we do first?"

"Let's start wit' somet'ing easy – we'll see how fast y'power works. Go on an' take off a glove."

Rogue reluctantly pulled off her glove, and placed her bare hand in her lap.

"Ready?" He asked her.

She took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah."

Remy reached out and grasped her bare hand with his. He felt the same pulling he had the first time he met her. He gripped her hand tighter, even as he felt his strength and energy drain out of him.

Rogue looked at him in worry and tried to pull her hand from his, but he held on for several more seconds, before he released her hand, gasping as if he'd just sprinted a mile. He collapsed backward, leaning heavily on the tree.

Rogue moved toward him quickly, and her hand landed on his chest. "Remy! Are you okay?"

Remy nodded weakly, and then his eyes widened when he saw his shirt begin to glow magenta. He quickly slapped his palms onto the shirt, negating the charge, and took Rogue's glowing hands into his, pulling the charge into himself.

"_Dieu_," he gasped. "Careful where y'put your hands when y'got my power."

Rogue looked up at him with a mixture of embarrassment and concern. "Are you sure you're alright?" She asked him quietly.

Remy slowly began to slow down his breathing. "Yeah. Shit, you really pack a punch." He said with a weak smile. "But I'll be okay – got most of my energy back when I pulled de charge from you."

"Why'd you keep holdin' on?"

"Had t'see whatya could do. I held on at least twenty, thirty seconds b'fore I couldn' keep it up. Prob'bly woulda passed out if I held on longer. So now we know how long I c'n touch ya."

He finally pushed himself away from the tree, leaning forward toward her again. "Actually, I t'ink you're kinda lucky." He said.

Rogue's jaw dropped. "What?"

"Sorry, dat came out wrong. You're lucky b'cause you can actually touch people for a short amount of time, where I couldn't even do dat. I t'ink we'll be able t'work a lot faster dis way, b'cause you won' hafta learn how to get it under control a bit b'fore y'can even touch anyone."

Rogue looked at him thoughtfully. "Ah guess if y'look at it that way it's a good thing."

They sat quietly across from one another for several minutes before Remy extended his hand to her once more. "Alright, let's try dat again. Dis time I want t'see if I can do anyt'ing t'fight it."

He gripped her hand once again, and immediately focused on trying to pull his energy back into him. He finally, once again, released her hand and slumped backward; he absentmindedly pulled the charge from Rogue once her hands began to glow again.

"Dat was better," he said, glancing at his watch. "Dat was almost a full minute dat time."

"What'd you do?" Rogue asked him.

"Jus' set my mind t'tryin' t'pull my energy back from ya. Takes a lotta concentration near de end dere, because I'm pullin' some back, but nothin' close to all of it."

He pulled his knees up to his chest. "I t'ink dat's all I c'n handle in a row, else I won' be able t'ride back. Mebbe we can do dis again later tonight."

Rogue nodded. "Sure, Remy. If you're really up to it later we can. Ah – Ah just don' want t'hurt you." She said, looking down at her hands.

Remy reached out, placing his hand on her arm. "Y'ain' gonna hurt me, Rogue. If it starts gettin' too outta hand, all I gotta do is pull away, okay?"

Rogue nodded. "Okay." She said, still looking down.

"Rogue," he said, "You know, if y'ever need to touch someone, jus' ask me - I know how lonely it c'n get without bein' able t'touch with your bare skin. I ain' scared of you, an' de feelin' when you use your power doesn' bother me." He paused, proving his point by running his fingers over the back of her hand, feeling the tingling begin as she started to absorb him.

Remy was caught by surprise when she hurled herself onto him, burying her face into his chest. He awkwardly put his arms around her, letting her grip him tightly.

"Thank you, Remy." She said, her voice muffled by his shirt. "You don't know how much that means."

She pulled her face back and looked up at his face with shimmering eyes, which were still a light tint of black on red from her recent absorption. "Besides Logan, you're the only one who'll do somethin' like that without flinchin'," she said.

Remy smiled and hugged her closer. "Now you got two of us."

Rogue pulled back and wiped the corners of her eyes. "Thanks," she said, kissing him lightly on the cheek. She quickly stood up, turning around to hide her growing blush. "Ah think we should get ridin' again, Remy. The horses are gettin' antsy, an' we should probably get back before the hottest part of the day."

Remy nodded, still feeling the tingling from the brief contact of her lips. He wasn't sure if it was partly due to her powers or entirely due to her kiss.

Remy stood up somewhat shakily, and pressed his hand against the tree to brace himself before he felt the trembling in his legs cease. He walked over and helped her get the saddle pads and saddles secured on the horses, and return the bits into their mouths.

He allowed her to lead along the trail, and he discretely brought a hand up to his cheek, and couldn't help a smile from breaking out on his face. '_You better watch yourself, Iceboy – you're gonna have to deal with me trying to steal her away from you now,' _he thought to himself.

* * *

_**A/N**__: Hope you guys liked it! A lot more Romy, as well as our first glimpse at Scott (a bit of his anger stage in his grief where in the movies we really only see his depression)._

_Thanks for all the reviews (most of any chapter!) - I really appreciate getting feedback from you guys on if you're liking it or if there's something I should change to make it better._


	9. Chapter 9: Revalations

_**Disclaimer: X-men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway ;)**_

_A/N: Read and enjoy (tons of Romyness this chap)!_

**Chapter 9: Revelations**

* * *

"What do you think this is about?" Piotr whispered to Rogue across the table of the conference room.

Rogue shrugged, looking across the room at the rest of the X-men. "Maybe the Professor's got a mission for us." She whispered back, glancing to where Xavier sat quietly at the head of the table.

Everyone quieted when the door to the conference room began to open. "Professor? Y'said you wanted to see me down here 'bout..." Remy began as he pulled the door open. He stopped, surprised to see everyone inside the room. "Oh, sorry. Didn' realize y'were busy." Remy said, beginning to back out of the doorway.

Xavier smiled. "No, come in Gambit. This is actually why I wanted to see you."

Remy reluctantly entered the room and sat down in one of the nearest open chairs. He looked warily at Scott, who was staring intently at the table. He glanced over to Rogue and she flashed him a smile, causing him to smile back.

"Okay," Charles said, "I've asked all of you here because of an offer Ororo and I have extended to Gambit. Because he is staying here, I've invited him to join the X-men, and I would just like you to give me your thoughts, and as usual we will put this up to a vote."

Bobby almost immediately spoke up. "You're making him an X-man? We hardly even know him, and we've never even seen what he can or can't do. We should at least get to fight against him, find out strengths and weaknesses and all that. Why does he get a free ride onto the team just because he's got connections with Storm?"

"Bobby!" Ororo exclaimed. Rogue just shook her head and looked away from Bobby.

Remy raised a hand. "_Non_, it's fine. Iceboy has a point – it wouldn't be very fair if I just got plopped onto the team when him an' de others had t'work to get onto it. I'm up for anyt'ing you guys wanna come up with t'see if I'm de sort of material you want on y'team." Remy said, looking to Xavier at the head of the table.

Xavier looked across the table among the other X-men, trying to gauge their opinions from the emotions their minds projected into the room. He finally looked back at Remy and smiled. "I think that may be a good idea – I admit I did not think through how others might feel about you joining without have proved yourself to them. I will set up an exercise in the Danger Room you can run through tomorrow and we'll see where to go from there."

Xavier smiled slightly. "Perhaps then you'll have lived up to Mr. Drake's standards," Xavier said dryly.

Bobby blushed, realizing he was being reprimanded indirectly for his outburst, and he looked down at the table.

Xavier dismissed the meeting shortly afterward. Bobby drifted closer to Rogue, a hopeful look on his face, but she ignored him, turning to Remy. She looked at him apologetically. "Sorry about that," she whispered, leaning her head toward his. "Ah was hopin' Bobby wouldn' cause any trouble, but so much for that. He's…. jealous," she said, a hint of pink in her cheeks, "he doesn't like me spending time with you."

Remy shrugged. "S'alright. Jus' don' let him control who you spend time with," he murmured back with a smile, his voice low, barely audible over the other conversations of the room, especially a loud one between Jubilee and Kitty – being probationary members of the team, Jubilee, Kitty, Dani, and Sam had attended the meeting with everyone else.

She looked at him, glad he hadn't tried distancing himself from her when he heard about Bobby's grudge and his demand of her. "Ah don't care what he thinks 'bout it – Ah like spendin' time with you."

Remy's eyes flicked over to Bobby, who was across the room, looking back at them with a scowl on his face. Remy deliberately leaned closer to Rogue, his body inches from hers, and casually threw an arm over her shoulder, shooting a smirk at Bobby, who stalked out of the room, frustration clearly evident. "I'm glad, 'cuz I like spendin' time with you too. Wouldn't have wanted t'hafta turn into some creepy stalker t'hang around with you." He said, shooting her a grin.

She elbowed him in the gut. "Ah wouldn't dismiss the creepy part that soon, Cajun." She said with her own grin.

He laughed, and held the door open for her – they were the last ones to leave the room. They walked to the elevator and waited for it to come back to their floor after depositing the others throughout the mansion.

The door finally slid open, and they stepped in. Remy jabbed the button to the third floor, and Rogue moved forward, pressing the button for the first subbasement. At Remy's raised eyebrow, she said, "Ah'm goin' ta the infirmary. Annie wanted me ta help her set up some new x-ray equipment she ordered a few weeks ago."

The elevator stopped on the subbasement floor, and Rogue stepped out. Remy reached out, stopping the doors from closing. "You two want any help?"

Rogue smiled back at him and shook her head. "No, that's alright Remy. Ah think we've got it."

Remy shrugged. "Okay. I'm gonna make some supper. When you two're done, come on up – tell Annie I'll make extra for you two."

Rogue smiled widely. "That'd be great. Ah'll tell Annie – but would it be alright if you made it for four? Annie usually makes dinner for herself an' her son, Carter."

Remy removed his hand from the door, and let it begin to slide shut. "Alright – it'll be waitin' for you three when y'get done."

* * *

_Remy's eyes snapped open to the glow of a television, and he realized he'd fallen asleep reclining in the living room. His eyes focused on the screen and he saw smoke rising from the entrance to the Cold War tunnels. The reporter on screen stood in front of the caved in entrance and body bag after body bag was dragged out across the screen behind him as dozens of rescue workers passed them along as if they were in a flood brigade, passing along sandbags._

_Remy closed his eyes as he saw several small ones being pulled out, and wondered if they contained the kids he'd seen lying in the tunnels with an older woman. "Damn it," he whispered silently, "why do they keep showin' dis? I'm havin' hard enough time workin' up the courage to tell Stormy."_

_He heard a cold voice behind him, and he spun around. "Tell me what? That you murdered those mutants? Killed your own kind because you were greedy for a few bucks? Get out of my sight." Storm said, looking at him with hate in her eyes._

_"Stormy, I didn't – I didn't want dis to happen, I didn't realize they were gonna kill dem."_

_Storm shook her head in disgust. "Bullshit, Gambit. You killed them. Just like you killed us." She said, flinging open the living room door to reveal the mansion in shambles: doors torn off their hinges, enormous holes in the walls, burnt ceiling lying on the ground._

_"Non." Remy whispered, and rushed out after her, but she seemed to disappear once she'd left his sight _

_Bodies of students littered the floor, some riddled with bullets, others maimed beyond recognition. Remy felt his heart drop below his feet when he saw a shock of white hair further down the hall._

_He rushed down the hall, only to sink to his knees in front of the bodies of Ororo, Rogue, and Sarah. He pulled Rogue's head into his lap, ignoring the hole in her chest; and leaned down, resting his head on Sarah's forehead, ignoring the lifeless eyes that stared up at him._

"Non!" He shouted, leaping from his bed with a brightly glowing pack of playing cards in his hand.

He looked around the room wildly, breathing heavily. "Shit," he whispered.

He threw open his door and nearly cried with relief when he saw the pristine hallways of the third floor, with no sign of destruction. He closed the door and sank to his knees, resting his forehead against the door.

"_Dieu Merci!_" he whispered to himself. '_It was just a dream_,' he thought as he tried to slow his breathing. He ran a hand across his forehead as he sat back on his heels, and it came away drenched in sweat.

'_Professor is right, I've got to tell Stormy before these dreams drive me crazy._' He thought to himself.

* * *

Rogue stared up at her ceiling as she heard the soft 'clump-clump' of footsteps on the roof above her. '_Who the heck is walking around on the roof?_' She wondered to herself.

She listened to the footsteps move away from her and finally stop. She lay in bed, wondering what, if anything, she should do. She'd woke up several minutes earlier, but she hadn't been able to tell what it was that woke her, and had been just about to drift off to sleep when she heard someone on the roof.

She sighed, knowing she'd never get to sleep now, and threw her covers off to the foot of the bed. She was fairly certain it was someone from the mansion, because she couldn't think of a reason someone outside would climb four stories to walk around on the roof. '_Could it be Logan?_' She wondered to herself as she put on a pair of slip-on sneakers, and slid on a light coat to cover her arms which were left bare by her sleeveless nightgown and black gloves that reached only halfway up her forearms.

Rogue slid the door of her balcony open and stepped out. The night sky was clear of clouds and she could see thousands of stars sparkling in the sky above her.

She placed a hand against the wall to brace herself and carefully climbed up to balance on the balcony railing. She gritted her teeth and forced herself to not look at the ground far below her. Rogue reached above her head slightly and began pulling herself up onto the roof. She grunted and swung one leg up, and then flailed for a moment, trying to pull herself up the rest of the way.

She finally got both legs onto the roof, and pushed herself to her knees. Remy was lying back on the roof close to a dozen feet away, a lit cigarette dangling from his lips. He was watching her with obvious amusement on his face. "Havin' fun?" He asked her with a grin.

Rogue moved up into a crouch and carefully made her way along the roof, finally settling down next to him with a sigh of relief. She then proceeded to swat him in the side. "Jerk. You didn't even try to help me."

Remy shrugged innocently. "You looked like you had it under control. Gotta say, dat was de most int'restin' way I've seen someone climb onto a roof."

Rogue blushed. "Ah probably looked like a beached whale tryin' t'get back out to sea, didn't Ah?" She said ruefully.

Remy chuckled. "I t'ink dat might be a good description."

Rogue gasped and swatted him again. "Yah're not supposed ta **agree** with me!"

He smiled and pulled his cigarette from his mouth, blowing the smoke out the corner of his mouth.

Rogue crinkled her nose automatically as it wafted toward her, but she looked at him in surprise when it reached her. "Never smelled a cigarette that smells like cinnamon." She said.

Remy nodded, and held the black-papered cigarette up in the moonlight. "Dis is a Djarum. Indonesian. Dey put cloves an' other stuff in wit' de tobacco, an' it makes a damn good cigarette."

Rogue leaned back against the roof next to Remy. "Things'll still kill ya."

"I know," Remy said. "Probably would quit 'cept my lungs heal right up, jus' like my shoulder an' stomach did."

Rogue rolled her eyes and stared upward at the night sky – Logan had told her much the same thing when she commented on his cigar smoking.

As Remy stubbed out his cigarette, Rogue let her head loll to the side to look at him. "So what're you doin' out on the roof this time of night?"

His smile vanished, and he laid his head back on the shingles. "Couldn't sleep. Bad dreams. Decided t'get some air." He looked over to her. "What 'bout you?"

She shrugged. "Ah woke up an' then Ah heard yah walkin' around up here. Ah decided t'see who was up here."

He looked at her sheepishly. "Sorry, didn' t'ink anyone would be up."

"It's alright. It's sure a beautiful night t'be out up here."

Remy nodded and remained silent, staring into the night sky.

"So what's a professional thief dream 'bout that wakes him up durin' the night? Stealin' from a bank an' realizin' you're only wearin' your underwear?" She asked, grinning over at him.

Her smile faded when he didn't answer, or even crack a smile. She saw the muscles of his jaw clench and his eyes close tightly.

"Remy? What's wrong?" She asked, reaching over to touch his shoulder.

He opened his eyes, and it seemed like they were giving off a slight glow in the dim light. She found her breath hitching in her chest when she saw the raw pain that was displayed in the red-on-black eyes.

"Death." He whispered. "I dream 'bout death."

She her hand was gripping his shoulder, and she couldn't speak.

"Rogue, I done a lot of bad things in my life, an' now whenever I try t'sleep dey haunt me."

"Remy... what...?" She whispered, looking at him in concern. The jumble of disjointed images that had assaulted her each time she absorbed Remy flashed through her mind again, this time somewhat clearer to her.

"De tunnels in New York, Rogue. I caused dat." He said hoarsely, the story finally pouring out of him. "I killed all those people."

Rogue felt like she'd been punched in the stomach, and she closed her eyes as the flood of images filled her mind, triggered by his words.

She tore her eyes open and stared into his eyes, breathing heavily. "No you didn't. You – Ah can see you – Ah see you tryin' t'stop them, and – all those bodies; you didn't get there in time." She said, feeling overwhelmed by the images and the emotions tied to those images. "Remy, you didn't do it – Ah've got your memories, up here," she said, tapping her forehead, "Ah can see what happened, or at least make out most of it."

He slumped back against the roof. "I gave dem de map. I thought they were gonna rob a bank. I told dem where de mutants were so dey could avoid 'em, an' ended up tellin' dem right where t'start killin'."

She gripped his shoulder tighter. "Ah know, Remy. It wasn't your fault. You tried t'stop them when you found out."

He slammed a fist into the shingles. "But I couldn't! An' now I see them every time I fall asleep. Sometimes they're just laying there, dead; other times they're talking, blamin' me, askin' me why I killed dem. Tonight it was even worse – dis time I was at de mansion, an' it was evr'yone here dat was dead. You, an' Stormy, an'... Sarah."

Rogue felt a tendril of jealousy creep into her, but she suppressed it. "Sarah?" She asked.

Remy nodded. "She's a little girl I found in de tunnels. De only one I could save."

A brief image of a trembling, pink-haired young girl flashed in her mind, and she felt the jealousy disappear. "Remy..." she whispered, loosening her grip and rubbing her hand back and forth across his shoulder.

He looked at her with pain in his eyes. "Why don't you hate me? **I** hate me."

Rogue pushed herself up into a sitting position and looked down at him. "Ah don't hate you because you didn't do this. You didn't kill them. Ah can see what happened, an' Ah can feel how much it hurts you in ev'ry memory Ah've absorbed. Yah can't let this eat you up, Remy."

He closed his eyes. "Can't help it."

She placed her hand on his chest. "Ah _know_, Remy. An' that's what makes you diff'rent from them. You care, an' every person that died affects you. They don't care about the people they killed – they probably even enjoyed doin' it."

Remy remained silent, and Rogue eventually sighed and began to move back from him. Remy opened his eyes and reached up to stop her, clasping his hand around the one she rested on his chest. "Thanks, Rogue. I needed dat. Someone t'talk some sense into me."

Rogue stopped moving away, relieved she had gotten through to him. "Remy, if yah ever need anyone ta knock sense inta yah, all ya hafta do is ask an' Ah'll be glad t'do it." She said, smiling when she got a grin out of him.

Rogue settled back down on the roof, laying on her side facing Remy with her head propped up by her free hand. She didn't pull her other hand from Remy's, feeling…. comfortable with his grip on her hand.

"So, what happened to Sarah?" She asked him hesitantly, now feeling embarrassed at her earlier flash of jealousy.

"I took her out of dere wit' me. Brought her back home to Louisiana. She's at my _frère's _place right now – she's de person I was talkin' to dis mornin' on de phone." He said, and then smiled slightly. "She's de whole reason I came to dis place – de friend I came to check dis school out for. Never thought I'd end up wantin' t'stay here myself." He said, shaking his head.

His eyes met hers. "Xavier said she could stay here, an' I guess he's gettin' a room set up for her dis weekend, an' I'm gonna head off t'go get her sometime dis week."

Rogue smiled at him – she could tell just from the way he talked that he cared for the pink-haired girl. "That'll be nice. Ah'd like t'meet her."

"I think you'll like her." He said.

Remy sat up, releasing her hand. He'd seen an involuntary shiver run down her body, and he realized the wind had picked up, chilling the air slightly.

He took his trenchcoat off, and pulled Rogue upright so he could drape it over her shoulders.

"Remy-" Rogue began to protest, but he shook his head.

"You're gonna catch somet'ing dressed like dat when it's dis cool out." He said, and she realized he'd noticed her shivering. "Don' worry 'bout me – I only wear dat 'cuz I like it – my powers keep me plenty warm enough if I need dem to."

Rogue finally nodded, and slid her arms through the sleeves of the trenchcoat. She laid back down, cinching it around her waist. She sighed at its warmth, and smiled her thanks to Remy.

As she pulled it tighter around her, she inhaled a scent that she could only describe as uniquely Remy – a mixture of cinnamon and cloves and some sort of aftershave she'd smelled on him during their ride in the forest.

She closed her eyes, feeling a warm contentment as she breathed in his scent in the warmth of his trenchcoat; it made her feel like all her worries – over Bobby and the feelings she'd begun to develop for another man, over Remy's unwitting involvement in the New York killings, over her powers and her talk with Xavier – were gone.

Remy looked down when he realized Rogue had not spoken for several minutes. He chuckled silently when he realized she'd fallen asleep wrapped up in his trenchcoat like a cocoon.

He gently tugged at the bottom of his coat so it covered her bare legs completely, and then settled down on the roof next to her. "Thanks for understandin'," he whispered. "I don' think I could handle you hatin' me for what I did. Only hope Stormy'll understand too."

* * *

Remy stirred from his sleep, feeling the rays of the morning sun begin to land on his face. He began to sit up, but froze when he realized he had a warm, soft weight draped over his chest.

His eyes snapped open and he looked down to see Rogue, still wearing his trenchcoat. During the night she'd rolled over onto her side and thrown an arm across his chest, and turned his shoulder into a pillow.

Rogue stirred slightly, her arm tightening her grip on his chest, her head moving slightly to another spot on his shoulder.

As he listened to her soft, slow breathing and looked down at her peaceful, upturned face, his stomach felt like it did a sudden loop as a thought invaded his mind: '_I'd do anything just to always see her like this – to wake up like this._' He felt his heartbeat pick up speed and everything seemed to come together in his head, clicking into place.

'Dieu_,_' he thought to himself, '_I'm really falling in love with her – this ain't just a crush on a cute girl – this is like it was with Bella only… more…_'.

He brought his free hand up and gently brushed a lock of hair from her face. '_What are you going to do, Cajun?_' He wondered to himself. The last time he'd fallen in love, it had ended up with someone dead and the girl he loved running off with the man she'd been cheating on him with.

But that was Bella. This was Rogue. She was different – almost the polar opposite of Bella. Where Bella was brash, cocky, completely aware of her beauty and how she could use it to her advantage, Rogue was soft, unsure of herself and at least for the most part unaware of her attractiveness.

Rogue had a low level of self-confidence – it seemed to Remy it had been shattered both by her experiences with her mutant abilities and with the behaviors of other people toward her when they learned of her abilities – but she still had a spark in her, something mostly buried that Remy had seen shine through several times since he met her.

Did he want to even consider making himself that vulnerable again – giving his heart to another woman, giving her the chance to break it like Bella had?

As Rogue made a sound similar to a half snore-half sigh, warm breath expelling from her lips in a short burst onto his cheek, he closed his eyes and clenched his jaw in firm resolve. '_Yes_,' was his only thought. He'd take that risk if she felt the same way for him as he did for her.

Bobby was a complication, but not a large problem in his opinion – he hadn't seen Rogue give Bobby anything more than a glare in the past day and a half since she'd had her picnic with him. The biggest problem would be having the guts to keep his resolve and not back off in fear that Rogue would hurt him, would destroy his spirit, like Bella had.

Remy opened his eyes and looked fondly down at Rogue, the soft pretty features of the left side of her face mashed up against his shoulder. He felt somewhere deep in his heart and in his gut that she didn't have it in her nature to deliberately hurt him like that, and he prayed his instincts were right.

Remy reached out a hand and gently touched her cheek, stroking it with his thumb until he began to feel the familiar pull of her power. He reluctantly pulled back. This was the other complication. He could hardly touch her, skin to skin, for more than a minute-fifteen as of their third attempt shortly after supper the previous night.

It didn't bother him, when she absorbed him – she could take his breath away, literally, and it didn't bother him in the slightest. But it bothered her – he would have been completely willing to accept just those minute-long contacts if that was all he could ever get, but he could tell it crushed her not being able to touch someone without worrying about sucking in bits of their memories and their minds.

He wasn't extremely worried about her learning to control her abilities – as far as he could tell, she was suffering from the same problems he had struggled with. Something traumatic had occurred with her power and she'd been unable to control it since. He didn't foresee it taking any longer for her to master than it had for him – not much matched the traumatic experience of killing dozens in an enormous explosion. He realized he'd never asked her exactly what had happened, and decided to the next time they worked with her power.

It could still take as long as a year before she started to see improvement, and he knew that just by itself it would have an impact on her not seeing any progress or hope that she would gain control. '_Maybe I can meet her halfway somehow_,' he mused to himself.

He mulled several ideas over in his mind, wondering if there was something he could do on his own besides help her control her power. Something to give her hope.

His eyes lit up as an idea came to him. '_My powers_,' he thought. Perhaps he could figure out some way to use his kinetic abilities to negate her powers. A sort of microscopic barrier of charged air around his skin. He did something similar days before under the river to convince the assassin that he was dead – focused all his will on causing his powers to create a barrier for his lungs, literally keeping the water out and allowing dissolved oxygen in – something completely in the heat of the moment, something he'd have a hard time easily duplicating without being in the same situation or practicing it for weeks.

It would take work – practice like he'd done back when getting control of his abilities – to get such a fine-tuning of his powers to charge only a thin layer of air and nothing else around it. It would probably take most of his concentration just to keep that barrier up once he got it. But it was an idea, and would be relatively quick – something he might master in days or weeks.

He broke from his thoughts as Rogue began to stir from her sleep. She let out a sleepy groan and arched her back, stretching. He felt her freeze suddenly, and her eyes snapped open.

Rogue drifted out of a pleasant sleep, comfortably warm and wrapped up in her blankets. She groaned and began to stretch the sleep from her body, wondering why her pillow seemed so lumpy. When she pressed into a warm, firm body, and she realized she was laying on hard shingles, she froze her movements and snapped her eyes open.

She blinked rapidly several times in the rising sun. Her eyes focused, and she found herself staring at a chest covered by a black t-shirt. Her eyes darted upward and she found herself looking at Remy's smiling face.

Her face flushed slightly as it sunk into her still-groggy mind where she was and what her pillow had been. She rolled onto her back, pulling her arm from across Remy's chest and removing her cheek from his shoulder.

Remy shifted, rolling his shoulder to restore some of the blood flow that had been limited moments before. He glanced over to her. "G'mornin'. You sleep well?"

Rogue nodded, color still in her cheeks. "Yeah. Thanks for your coat," she said, "an' for, um, bein' mah pillow."

Remy laughed and sat up, stretching his arms above his head. He placed a hand on his shoulder, and looked up at her in amusement. "Y'welcome. I got t'learn somethin' else 'bout you – y'drool in your sleep." He said, gesturing to a slightly visible damp spot on his shirt, a grin on his face.

Rogue's jaw dropped, and her expression was one of mortification, and she covered her face with her hands with a groan. "Oh Gawd, Ah'm sorry, Remy." She mumbled into her hands.

He chuckled and laid a hand on her back. "Don' worry 'bout it. Had it happen t'me plenty of times before."

Rogue finally pulled her hands from her face, and looked up at Remy, and tried to move the subject from her embarrassment. "Didn't think Ah'd fall asleep out here."

Remy grinned. "Y'were out like a light after y'got warm, an' I didn't wanna wake you up again so I stayed up here with you."

Rogue smiled. "Thanks," she said. She looked up at him with worry in her eyes when she remembered why Remy had been up. "Did – did yah have any more dreams, Remy?" She asked him hesitantly.

Remy shook his head, and his expression dimmed for a moment. "_Non_, actually, didn' have any more last night."

Rogue smiled. "Good." She said. "You know, Remy, Ah meant what Ah told you last night – don't let this eat you up. If you ever need t'talk more 'bout what happened, Ah'll listen." She said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

He flashed her a tentative smile. "Thanks, _Chère_."

Rogue raised an eyebrow. "Chère?" She asked him with a wry tone.

Remy nodded. "Well, either I call y'dat, or we can go wit' Roguey."

Rogue's eyes widened, her nose wrinkling, and she raised a hand. "Let's stick with the first one, alright?"

Remy laughed, and stood up on the roof. "Alright. I should get back down t'my room – Sarah's gonna be callin' me soon."

Rogue took the hand he offered, and used it to help her pull herself upright, standing unsteadily on the tilted surface of the roof.

Remy walked toward the edge of the roof and simply stepped off, causing Rogue's breath to catch in her chest. She rushed to the side and saw him landed in a crouch on her balcony.

He stood up and grinned at her, causing her to scowl back. "Not funny." She ground out, causing his grin to disappear and be replaced with a look full of innocence.

He looked up at her. "Need some help down?"

Rogue nodded and within a moment he was standing balanced on the railing of her balcony. She sat on the edge of the roof and began to lower herself down over the edge. Remy's hands found her waist, lifting her down onto the railing with him.

Rogue swayed and gripped his arms tightly with her hands, feeling her heartbeat speed up at the physical contact with him. Remy gripped her tighter as she swayed, keeping her from teetering toward the outside of the balcony. He lifted her easily and helped her find her footing on the firm concrete of her balcony floor, before hopping from the railing to land next to her.

"Thanks," Rogue said breathlessly – both from the moment she'd thought she was going to tumble over the balcony and from her reaction to Remy and his closeness to her.

"Y'welcome, _Chère_." Remy said, reaching up tentatively to brush back a lock of hair behind her ear from where it had fallen over her left eye. Rogue felt her legs tremble slightly, and she gripped the railing. He definitely wasn't helping her catch her breath.

He looked down at her face, a serious look on his own. "Thanks, Rogue. For last night…. for not…. hatin' me." He said.

Rogue's eyes softened, and she nodded, not knowing what to say. She touched his arm for a moment, and then backed away, reaching backward to slide her balcony door open. She turned and stepped inside.

She stood there for several moments, and Remy realized she was waiting for him to come inside. He smiled and shook his head. "I'll get back t'my room out here. People might get de wrong idea if I left through y'room," he said with a smile.

Rogue blushed. "Good point. See yah down at breakfast, Remy." She said.

As he began to turn, she said "Wait, almost forgot." She shrugged off the large trenchcoat, and handed it to him.

He took it and slid it over his shoulders in one smooth, expert motion, and flashed her a grin. She watched as his knees bent slightly before he leapt effortlessly onto the railing and again onto the roof, making it all appear to be in one fluid action. She heard his footsteps move across the roof and she walked over to her own bed, collapsing on it with a great sigh, a silly smile spreading across her face.

She could easily imagine what Jubilee would be saying to her at that moment – mostly because she had her in her head along with everyone else she'd absorbed – "Damn girl, you've got it bad!"

She couldn't exactly disagree with Psyche-Jubilee. She realized she hadn't felt her heart race, her breath disappear, her entire body react like that, for months. She'd felt much the same way with Cody, and when she'd first met Bobby and he'd made his first, awkward advances toward her. But now, experiencing it again, she realized she'd not felt it for a long time with Bobby. It made her begin to doubt even more that her relationship with Bobby would even have a chance of working out.

* * *

Rogue's knuckles turned white as she gripped the edge of her chair tightly, watching as a series of bullets sprayed just inches from Remy's face as he danced out of the line of fire. She watched him dive into a mixture of a side-roll and a somersault, coming out of the movement with his boot flying hard into the face of the man who'd shot at him.

She felt a nudge to her side, and tore her eyes away to look over at Dani, who sat with her in the Control Room of the Danger Room, along with Xavier, Ororo, Kitty, and Jubilee. Dani leaned over with a grin, and whispered in her ear. "Relax, girl. You look more stressed than you would be if it was you in there. Don't have a heart attack."

Rogue took a deep breath and relaxed her death grip on the chair, trying to relax. She smiled at Dani and looked back through the viewing glass as Remy walked warily down a maze of hallways. She'd been tense, worried about Remy, ever since Logan had tossed him into a Level 9 training scenario. Typically the only person who ran solo in a scenario like this and completed it was Logan himself – everyone else did it with at least a partner if not the whole team. As it turned out, her worry for Remy had not been needed – he had barely a scratch from his encounters thus far.

She felt more than a little pissed that it seemed Logan had decided to pile on top of the Level 9 sequence, inserting others into the scenario – the reason Scott, Bobby, and presumably himself were not in the viewing room with them.

Remy had already been ambushed once, but it seemed he'd expected something of the sort – he'd moved so quickly Scott had been laid out on his back in moments, knocked out with a single blow of Remy's bo staff. So far Logan and Bobby hadn't popped up, but she knew that Bobby would not be kept from volunteering.

'_Speak of the devil_,' she thought, as Bobby popped up from behind a dumpster as Remy walked past it. He launched a thin beam of ice from his hands at Remy, but it seemed he'd been too noisy in his ambush, as Remy was already ducking well below the beam before it reached him.

Remy attempted to close the distance, bringing his fist toward Bobby's head, but Bobby backpedaled and swung his beam downward, trying to catch Remy's feet. Remy was nimble enough to leap over it, but hadn't had enough momentum to clear the area it had frozen on the ground beneath him.

His feet skidded out from underneath him, and he caught himself just before he landed on his backside. Bobby didn't hesitate, and thrust both hands forward, the moisture in the air around them crystallizing. In moments, Remy's entire body was encased in a thick layer of ice.

Rogue felt a knot of fear in her stomach for Remy, and she saw Bobby chuckle and turn away, walking toward the exit of the Danger Room. She was about to whirl on the Professor and get him to have Bobby de-ice Remy before he was hurt seriously by a lack of oxygen or bitter cold ice covering him, when she caught Ororo's expression. She was grinning as if she knew something the others didn't.

Rogue looked back in time to see the ice disappear in a blinding magenta flash.

* * *

Remy cursed his luck as his feet slipped from beneath him. He'd hoped to coldcock Bobby on his swing, but he'd been able to just barely avoid it. Remy reached out, catching himself from his slip on the ice, only to be greeted by a freezing blast of ice from Bobby. It quickly coated his entire body with a thick layer of ice.

He quelled his natural response of panic at being encased in a cold, airless space, and focused his energy. Through the ice, slightly muffled, he heard Bobby laugh, and say, "Loser. Couldn't even put up a decent fight."

Remy felt cold anger boil up in him, and used it to help him focus. Finally, having gathered the energy, he released it all in one blast across his body. The ice vaporized completely, leaving his entire body without even a speck of moisture from the melting – it had changed to gas phase too quickly. Steam rose across his body as he bounced to his feet, watching Bobby turn around, startled by the sudden blast.

"What?" Bobby exclaimed, backing away quickly, a hint of uncertainty and fear now in his eyes.

Remy reached into the inner pocket of his trenchcoat, casually removing a deck of cards. He shuffled them in the air, back and forth from hand to hand, a smirk on his face. "I was gonna go easy on you Iceboy, but I don' much 'preciate gettin' frozen."

And then the deck began to glow magenta, casting wide shadows along the darkened street.

It was over very soon after. Rogue, elated to see Remy was more than fine, watched as he divided the glowing deck between both hands, and then swept his arms outward, hurling the cards at Bobby.

They swept out in an arc on either side of Bobby, and erupted in a chain of concussive explosions that briefly caused the screen to polarize to near black to protect the eyes of those in the viewing room. As the glass cleared, she saw Bobby – hurled backwards by the blast – slam into the dumpster he'd hidden behind, and slump to the ground, unconscious.

Remy nudged him with his boot and knelt down to check his pulse. He tossed a thumbs up to the general direction of the viewing room, and continued down the narrow street of the Danger Room. It twisted and turned, leading him into two more military ambushes, the first of which left him favoring his left leg after twisting his ankle in the fight.

Rogue saw it first – Logan crouched on the roof of a building, clad in black, about twenty feet above Remy. His adamantium claws were already protruding from his knuckles, and the gleamed as he tensed his legs and leapt downward.

Her eyes flashed back to Remy, and in a blur of motion, he had his bo staff extended. Sparks flew as staff met claw, and Remy was hammered back and down almost into a crouch by the force of Logan's attack. Remy twisted and used Logan's remaining momentum to throw him over his shoulder. Logan landed lightly on his feet several yards away, and wasted no time attacking.

The insanely quick thrust and parry of Logan's claws and Remy's staff that she had seen before in Ororo's room dominated everyone's attention. This time, however, it seemed even more an even match, with Remy healed from his gunshot wounds and without having lost blood. His limp was there, hindering his retreats from Logan's attacks, and Logan pressed for an advantage.

Remy suddenly lunged forward, pushing off on the leg he had been favoring, and slammed his staff into a surprised Logan's face, knocking him back several feet. Remy stepped back, and it was then that Rogue realized the last two fights, all the limping, had been a show to fake a weakness that he knew Logan would try to take advantage of.

Logan caught his balance and began to move forward, but Remy, his staff suddenly glowing, reared back and slammed one end of the staff into the ground at Logan's feet. An enormous explosion shook the glass to the observation room, and behind the tinting, Rogue saw Logan hurled nearly twenty feet into a wall. Remy was suddenly there, appearing out of the smoke that rose from his explosion.

He placed the tip of his glowing bo staff on Logan's throat, and his voice drifted up toward the speakers. "For th'record, jus' to make it official, BANG…. You dead." He said. The glow disappeared from his staff, and he slid it into his trenchcoat. He extended a hand to Logan, who retracted his claws and used it to help bring himself back to his feet.

Rogue saw a smile of amusement on Logan's face. As he made it to his feet, he slapped Remy heartily on the back. "Nice moves, Cajun. Not bad at all. Didn't realize y'could blow shit up with that big of a blast."

He led Remy to the edge of the street, and reached into the holographic projection of a payphone and pressed something, and the image of the city streets disappeared, leaving only the gleaming walls of the Danger Room. Logan looked at the prone bodies of Scott and Bobby on the floor, and waved his hand. "We'll let them sleep it off for a bit." He said, opening the door that led to stairs up to the observation room.

As they climbed the stairs, Logan smirked over at him. "Just so y'know, even if you'd blasted my face off when I was down, I'dve been up and healed in fifteen minutes."

Remy grinned back and nodded. "Figured as much. Dat's why I would've charged your adamantium. Woulda taken y'a lot longer t'fix dat. An' in a real fight I woulda been long gone by den."

Logan winced, and laughed.

As they opened the door to the observation room, Rogue was there in an instant, looking worriedly at Remy. "Are you alright?" She asked him glancing at the cuts and scrapes on his arms, and the split lower lip he'd received from Logan.

Remy smiled, though it twinged as his lips moved. "Yeah, I'm alright, _Chère_. Jus' a few scrapes an' bruises. Nothin' serious, _ma infirmière_."

She reached into her pocket and pulled out some disinfecting wipes and opened them up. She reached out and used it to gently clean several oozing cuts on his arm. She nodded in satisfaction at seeing they were shallow and wouldn't need stitches.

"Hey, what about me?" Logan protested, mock sadness in his voice. "Don't ask me if I'm alright or anything."

Rogue released Remy's arm, realizing they were in front of so many people. She swatted at Logan's arm with a grin on her face. "Oh quit it. Yah've already almost healed."

Logan tousled her hair affectionately, and turned to Remy, extending a hand. Remy shook it firmly, and Logan said, "Welcome to the X-men, Cajun."

* * *

Remy leaned forward on the couch to grab the remote, several muscles screaming their protest at being used so soon again after the Danger Room fight. He collapsed back with a sigh and flicked on the television, scrolling through until he reached CNN. The last month or so, the media had been wild with election year fever, displaying the candidate debates for each party, and basically turning it into an almost 24/7 coverage.

They were showing the end of a speech by one of the main contenders for the Democratic ticket, and he settled in – nothing helped him fall asleep better than smarmy politicians and their speeches.

Just as his eyes started to droop, the coverage switched over to a Republican candidate's speech at a rally in Virginia. Banners hung all over the town hall, proclaiming "Change We Need". Remy snorted sleepily at the lame slogan.

It wasn't the switch, or the candidate that caused Remy to jerk upright, his muscles tensing. It was the face of the man introducing the candidate – the caption beneath him stating: 'Ron Maldrone – Chief Campaign Coordinator'.

The man raised his hands to silence the crowd. "Thank you for your patience. Now I'd like to present the next President of the United States, Graydon Creed!"

The crowd erupted into applause as a handsome brown-haired man, barely in his forties, walked onto the stage. But Remy's eyes remained on the Campaign Coordinator as he drifted back into the background. His fists clenched tightly, looking at the horn-rimmed glasses and smarmy grin he'd come to hate. Maldrone, the man who'd directed the slaughter of the tunnel mutants, was strutting about in broad daylight, managing the campaign of a _presidential candidate_.

"Fuck," Remy breathed, watching Creed wait for the crowd to quiet down. He'd paid little attention to the candidates, so he knew next to nothing about Creed, so he tried to calm himself and listen to the speech.

_After about a dozen "thank yous" to the cheering crowd, the noise quieted, and Creed began to speak in a rich baritone voice. "Thank you all. We stand here only miles from the first English Colony on the continent of North America, in one of the first states to enter into the Union of the United States, when our ancestors stood up and fought for their unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."_

_He paused as a smattering of applause erupted. "We stand mere minutes from some of the largest battles ever fought during the Civil War when our ancestors again fought for what they believed to be right."_

_"In these recent years, we have faced something we have never before seen – something that threatens those very rights that our ancestors fought for. A new branch on our family tree has sprouted – mutants. We are called Homo Sapiens. They call themselves Homo Sapiens Superior. They have the power to bend metal, annihilate mountains, walk through solid walls, and can read our very __**thoughts**__."_

_"There are some who consider them to be the next step in human evolution. Others believe they are an entirely new species, as different from us as our Cro-Magnon ancestors were to the Neanderthals."_

_"I know that this has brought fear into the hearts of my fellow Americans. I know it has brought fear into my own heart, that a just a handful of mutants could easily lay waste to this great country. Not long ago we lived in great fear of nuclear annihilation. Now we fear our very selves."_

_"If I am elected to be the President of this great nation, I pledge to you – I __**promise you**__ – that I will do all I can to prevent this from happening. My opponents claim that mutants are harmless. That there is no reason for the Mutant Registration Act to be passed. But let me ask you this. If mutants are so harmless, why would they fear registering themselves with our government?" _

"_Anyone who purchases a gun has to wait weeks for a background check, and often cannot even carry it for their protection into dangerous areas. If we must register and be subject to such restrictions for something as simple as a handgun to protect ourselves and our families, why are mutants – whose powers are far more dangerous than a gun – allowed to walk about freely without a single restriction while our citizens remain in fear, never knowing if the people they see have the powers to destroy cities?"_

_"My first act if elected President will be to push our lawmakers to follow the wishes of their constituents and pass the Registration Act. We need to change the way our government works. We need to tear down the Good Old Boys network in Washington, and have our lawmakers start __**listening**__ to the good people of this nation who elected them to serve their interests!"_

Remy turned off the TV, his stomach roiling. The man who'd hired him – the man who'd sent in the mercenary teams to murder the mutants in New York – was the chief staff member of a man running on a strong anti-mutant platform. Remy was no fool – it was no coincidence, and only an idiot wouldn't see that Creed had been involved in some way.

He stood from his seat. He had to tell Storm – tell her everything.

* * *

Graydon Creed finished shaking hands with the last people near the area cordoned off for his car, and then stepped past them, ducking his head to slide smoothly into the back seat of his limo, giving a final wave for the cameras before the door was shut for him by the driver.

He sighed and relaxed back into his seat, smoothing his hair back on his head. He looked over to his campaign manager, who sat in the seat across from him. He smiled tiredly at him. "How did we do, Ron?"

The man smiled and pushed his horn-rimmed glasses further up the bridge of his nose. "Very good, Gray. You didn't come on too strong on the mutie issue, and you painted just the right picture to speak to people's feelings over it. I think a few more strong speeches like this and you'll come a few points up in the next debate."

Graydon nodded, and relaxed – Ron knew his stuff: if he said they'd be going up, they were going to go up. "I just can't wait until this is over. Just think – still eight more months before Election Day." He shook his head wearily. "My senatorial campaigns were nowhere near this."

Ron nodded. "Well, you're running for the most important office in the world. It's _supposed_ to be difficult."

Graydon nodded. "Just exhausted by the end of the day."

Graydon leaned forward and retrieved a device from a small compartment beneath the seat. He switched it on and swept it around the interior of the car, finally grunting with satisfaction before switching it off. "We're safe."

Ron finally relaxed. "I've heard some whispers in the organizations that something big is coming in the next few days. Something that might help us out with the mutant part of our platform."

Graydon looked up with interest. Ron was his intermediary in several less than savory anti-mutant groups, and they used those groups to reach their objectives. "Any idea what it is?"

Ron shook his head. "No, no one seems to know other than that they've heard it will be big. Some hints about a billionaire and his biotechnology firm."

Graydon frowned in thought, and then shook his head – no use pondering vague rumors. "Everything's been paid and taken care of on our recent venture?"

Ron nodded. "The mercs won't be talking. We've either got dirt on their families, or are offering them more than enough money to keep their mouths shut. Other than them, it was only the Louisiana thief, and Boudreaux, and they won't be a problem."

Graydon smiled, and pulled open a minifridge where a bottle of champagne sat cooling. He popped the cork and poured out two drinks offering one to Ron, who accepted it.

"To your Presidency," Ron said, raising his glass in a toast.

* * *

Remy caught Ororo coming out of her room. He stopped her with a hand to her shoulder. "Ororo, we need to talk."

Her eyes snapped to his – he rarely called her anything but "Stormy". He looked back at her, his face a mix of emotions from seriousness to apprehension. Her smile at seeing him faltered slightly and she opened her door back up, ushering him inside.

She sat down on her bed and he pulled a chair from her desk and sat on it opposite her. "What's wrong, Remy?" She asked him.

"I've got some information dat you an' Xavier need t'know. De man dat planned de killings of de mutants in New York – he's the campaign manager for Graydon Creed."

"Creed? The anti-mutant candidate? But…"

Remy nodded. "Dat probably means Creed's in on it too."

"But, how do you know this is the man who planned it – you'd….." She trailed off, her face paling. She spoke quietly. "The explosion – the one that collapsed the tunnels – that was you, wasn't it?"

Remy looked down, his expression pained, and he swallowed thickly. "Yeah," he said hoarsely.

"God, Remy," she whispered. "How did they pull you into this?" She asked, almost to herself. She looked down at him. "Damnit Remy, this is why I've wanted you to get out of all this, so you couldn't get used by someone like this. They had you guide them down there, didn't they?"

He looked at her in shock. "How – what – you don' think I killed dem?" He managed.

She flashed him a wan smile. "No, Remy. I know you. You're not capable of something like that. You don't have it in you to murder people in cold blood." She raised a hand as he opened his mouth. "And don't even think about bringing up the theater – we both know you couldn't have controlled your powers. I'm talking about standing in front of a kid or a defenseless mutant and putting a bullet in them. You could never do that."

Remy sagged back into the chair and ran a hand blearily over his face. She knew him too well. He sighed, and looked up hesitantly into her eyes. "Y'right. Dey got me t'make a map, an dey used dat t'get around in de tunnels. I found out an' tried t'stop it. Couldn'. I been puttin' off tellin' you – didn' know how you'd react."

Ororo moved forward, and pulled him into a soft hug. "Remy, you can tell me anything."

Remy swallowed and nodded into her hair. He pulled back. "I jus' saw a rally in Virginia for dis Graydon Creed character, an' de slimy bastard dat hired me was on dere, introducin' him. Dey said he was de campaign organizer."

"You're sure it was him?"

"_Oui_. I'll never forget dat _salaud'_s face."

"How could he be so cocky, going on national television having done this? Someone who knew could blackmail him for all he's worth." Ororo mused.

"He t'inks he killed de only man dat met him an' knows what he did. I'd bet anyone even slightly involved, aside from the mercs, have been found dead. Bet de coward dat took a shot at me got taken out too. He doesn' t'ink anyone is even around to know who he really is."

Ororo nodded, mulling over Remy's statement. She finally looked over to him and placed a hand on his arm. "Remy, please get out of the Guild - thieving. People will keep using you like this, and I can tell you feel like crap about what happened. Don't let someone do it again."

He gave her a reassuring smile. "I won't. Dis is de perfect time t'get out – everyone t'inks I'm dead, an' I can start a new life. An' now I got a lot of t'ings t'live for b'sides the next heist, the next safecracking."

Ororo grinned at him. "And would one of those things be Rogue?"

Remy blushed and looked away. "Don' know what you're talkin' 'bout Stormy."

Ororo laughed. "Give me a break Remy. You've got the hots for her. I'm not blind."

Remy sighed and raised his eyes back to her. "Ain't just dat. I'm fallin' for her."

Ororo looked at him, surprised, and then her expression grew concerned and she squeezed his arm. "Really, Remy? It's that serious?"

Remy nodded with a weak smile. "Yeah, it is."

Ororo was silent for a moment. "Remy, I know after what happened…" She trailed off, not sure if she wanted to bring up that painful subject.

Remy sighed. "It's alright, Stormy. I was thinkin' 'bout it dis mornin'. Rogue's nothin' like Bella. She's not gonna rip my heart out an' feed it to de gators like Bella did. 'Sides, I knew I'd hafta take some sorta risks at some time, 'less I want t'live m'life as a bachelor havin' flings with a new person ev'ry week."

Ororo rubbed her hand comfortingly on his arm, glad he was finally pulling out of the disillusioned state he'd been left in after Bella – his only relationships, if you could call them that, being one night stands and weekend-long flings.

"And Bobby?" She asked him.

Remy snorted in disgust. "She ain't interested in him anymore s'far as I c'n tell. 'Sides, I saw him plenty de last few days – might as well be slobberin' de way he looks at Kitty. Dey're not gonna last long."

Ororo smiled. "I've noticed that too." She said. "Remy – I'm happy for you. I'm glad you're getting over what Bella did to you. And I don't think you could have fallen for a better person than a girl like Rogue. But – the whole touching thing…."

"Don' worry. We're gonna be workin' on dat. She's got de same problems I told you I had back den – she just ain' had someone dat's gone through it before t'help her out. We've already got it to more than a minute of contact b'fore it gets too tough to handle for me. An' I've got a few ideas dat might work out wit' my own powers too."

Ororo nodded, looking satisfied. "Just wanted to make sure you were thinking everything through. I hope you can help her. She deserves so much more than what she's had to go through."

Ororo moved her hand back into her lap and looked at Remy with a sly expression. "So is Rogue the only thing you've found here to live for?"

He shook his head, not catching her expression. "_Non_," he said, "Dere's you of course, _ma soeur_, an' den dere's dis place – I really like it here."

"I see," she said, "and what about a young girl named Sarah?"

Remy's jaw dropped, and he simply stared at her for a moment. "How?" Was about all that made it out of his mouth as his mind spun.

Ororo laughed at his expression and patted his hand with hers. "I got the most interesting call this morning from a very worried little girl named Sarah. Imagine my surprise when she put her Uncle Henri on who, once I introduced myself, asked where his hopelessly lazy brother Remy was."

Remy groaned. Sarah had been worried when he'd missed several of her calls that morning while on the roof with Rogue, but she hadn't said she'd called the main number and talked to anyone.

"I found her down in de tunnels," he said tightly. "De leader of de mercs was gonna kill her. I pretty much vaporized him, an' escaped with her. She was de only one I could save. I'm…. I've gotten attached to her. I'm gonna leave in a few days an' bring her here to de school, 'cuz she's got problems wit' her powers."

Ororo looked at him, her eyes twinkling. "I look forward to meeting her."

Remy nodded. "Xavier's gettin' a room ready for her. She should be here by de middle of de week."

"Does the Professor know about the tunnels…." Ororo began.

"_Oui_, I tol' him when you brought me to his office. Figured it wouldn' be too smart lyin' to someone who can read minds. I'm…. sorry I didn' tell you sooner. I been havin' dese dreams, an' I just got scared dat you'd hate me for bein' involved."

Ororo stood and pulled him into a firm hug. "I understand. But I could never hate you – you know that, right?"

Remy nodded. "Yeah, guess I do."

Ororo grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feed. "Good. Now come on – we've got to let Charles know about this. See what he wants to do about this. This could be very bad – a candidate with such extreme anti-mutant connections. I don't know if you've been paying attention to the primaries, but right now Creed is the favorite for the Republican nomination, and with the climate negative toward mutants like it is now, I think he might have a decent chance of being elected." She said, grimly, pulling Remy into the hall after her.

* * *

_A/N: Hope you enjoyed it. Creed's speech didn't come out quite the way I hoped, but I ended up settling for the best I could get – got the basic rhetoric and structure from one of Kelly's speeches in the comics I ran across last week. Hope you guys enjoyed the Romyness – not much longer till the big Breakup. I'm not too confident/good at writing action scenes so hope the Danger Room scene was decent._

_Headed out to see X-men Origins: Wolverine tonight – looking forward to seeing our favorite Cajun (and see Deadpool although I'm a bit more leery of his casting – Ryan Reynolds, not so sure about for the part, but we'll see)._


	10. Chapter 10: Cure

_**Disclaimer: X-men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway ;)**_

_A/N: Not a whole lot of Romyness in this chap, but we get see the plot move forward quite a bit (in regards to the X3 movie plot). And finally some Magneto! Please, read and review._

**Chapter 10: Cure**

* * *

"Come in," Xavier said, looking up from his desk at the knock on his door. Ororo and Remy walked into the room, and he gestured to the two chairs in front of the desk.

Ororo had a worried expression on her face. "Charles, we need to talk to you about something." She said, and then nodded to Remy.

He cleared his throat. "Professor, I know de name of de man dat hired me to show him how to get to de tunnels."

Xavier looked over at him with a hint of surprise, and glanced over to Ororo. He smiled slightly. "I see you took my advice, Remy."

Remy smiled weakly and glanced at Ororo. "Yeah, jus' a little while ago."

"Now what is this about the man that hired you? You didn't tell me you knew who he was."

Remy shook his head. "I didn't. Not until today, when I saw him on TV standin' wit' Senator Graydon Creed. His name's Ron Maldrone. He's runnin' Creed's campaign."

"You're sure of this?" Xavier demanded sharply.

"Abs'lutly. He's de creep dat hired me."

Xavier frowned in thought, and looked to both Ororo and Remy. "And you think Creed could have been involved." He stated flatly, already picking up the same thoughts coming from Ororo's unshielded mind.

Remy nodded. "It makes sense, wit' their association wit' each other. I haven' been followin' de primaries closely, but from what Stormy tol' me an' from what I heard of Creed's speech, he's very anti-mutant. Wouldn't s'prise me if dat extended further, an' de less hateful side was what he showed to de world."

Xavier sighed, nodding as he passed a hand over his eyes. "That is what I concluded as well."

Xavier folded his hands on his lap. "Earlier this week I received invitations to the televised CNN primary debates this coming weekend - both the Democratic and Republican debates - to serve as a commentator on mutant rights issues that the candidates bring up. I had considered not attending, but it appears that it may be an excellent chance to glean information from Mister Creed."

Ororo nodded, but still looked concerned. "Charles, what do we do if you find out he _was_ involved?"

Xavier shook his head and sighed. "I am not sure, Ororo. I really don't know." He said. "I'm sure I will think of something when the time comes. If he is involved with what happened, I am disturbed at the thought that he could become President. If he's willing to do such things secretly now, imagine what he would be willing – and, more importantly, _able_ – to do as the leader of our nation."

Ororo visibly shuddered. "He could make Stryker's attack on us look like a family reunion. As Commander-in-Chief he could simply order some sort of black-ops attack on us and then claim we were terrorists if anyone talked about it."

Xavier nodded grimly. "I know. We will think of something."

* * *

"We have a problem," John Allerdyce said, striding down the stairs of the underground metal bunker Magneto had created.

Erik Lehnsherr, more infamously known to the rest of the world as Magneto, looked up with a slight frown from a pile of newspapers and clippings John had procured for him while he had been traveling. "And what would that be?"

"Do you remember how before you left you told Mystique to get into the FDA, to look into those rumors we heard about?"

Erik nodded. "Yes, of course I remember." He said with an irritated frown. "What is it – has she found something?" He asked, feeling his temper shorter than usual from the lack of sleep.

"She's still not back. I'd thought she was just having trouble getting into the lab she found or finding the information, but she hasn't contacted us for several days now. Then I got a message from Lorelei today."

Erik nodded. He'd found and befriended Lorelei years ago, even before he'd met Mystique. She was, of course, a fellow mutant. She had the ability to subtly affect others with what amounted to subsonic soundwaves in her voice, leaving them more suggestible, lowering their inhibitions. With enough time – usually on the order of weeks – she could put someone under a full hypnotic trance without them even realizing it. He'd put her abilities to use, and she'd become an agent with the CIA years before, providing him with invaluable information.

"Her message says Mystique has been captured and is being held by the Department of Homeland Security."

Eric closed his eyes and rubbed at his forehead, trying to forestall the pounding headache he felt coming on. "Damn," he breathed. Of all the times for her to be discovered, it just had to occur now! He had been to Geneva, Montreal, and Lisbon over the past few weeks, gaining support among other mutants he'd met over the years.

He'd been developing a plan that could come into fruition as early as the next year, but that was dependent on how much financial support he could gain from his allies. He'd already received a rather sizable donation from a middle-aged mutant named Sebastian Shaw, who was one of the main investors of a nearly century-old high end entertainment club business.

Now Mystique, who besides Lorelei was one of his best operatives for infiltrating the government and obtaining otherwise inaccessible information, was in government custody.

He opened his eyes and looked up at John. "Anything else?"

John nodded. "Lorelei said she should be able to get access to the information on where Mystique's being held, if you want to break her out."

Erik sighed wearily. "Tell her to send us whatever she can."

* * *

Remy had just finished toweling off, when he heard three quick knocks at his bedroom door. "Just a minute!" He yelled through the closed bathroom door. He'd been woken once again by Sarah's call to him, and finished talking with her, promising he'd pick her up "soon". He grinned to himself – she didn't know just **how** soon he was planning to pick her up. After he hung up, he had quickly showered, his stomach already grumbling at its lack of a prompt breakfast.

Remy slid on a pair of jeans, and was toweling his hair dry as he opened the bathroom door, letting a cloud of steam escape into the bedroom. Remy dropped the towel down, letting it hang loosely draped over his neck, and opened the bedroom door.

Ororo was standing outside, and a crowd of young students milled around behind her.

Remy quirked an eyebrow at her. "And what brings my _belle soeur _here dis early in de mornin'?" He asked with a curious smile.

"Remy, I know you only just talked to Charles about teaching, but I need your help today. According to Piotr, Scott packed up and left this morning – he's taken most of his belongings from his room, and Charles can't sense him near the mansion. I need to cover one of Scott's math classes this morning, and Logan's disappeared as well. I was hoping you could take over for my World History class for me."

Remy sighed, and tousled his still damp hair. "Yeah, Stormy. Just a sec."

Remy turned back to the room, slinging his towel into the open bathroom door. He pulled on a pair of socks and his boots and grabbed a T-shirt, pulling it over his head as he walked back to the doorway.

Ororo moved back and led him and the young students down the staircase to the ground floor. As they reached one of the classrooms, Ororo stopped. "Carter, please lead everyone to your classroom." She looked to Remy and lowered her voice. "I put my lesson outline on the desk. All you have to do is follow what I have there and you should be alright." She paused and smiled at him. "Thanks, Remy." She said, kissing his cheek before she turned and entered another room.

Remy turned and eyed the children in front of him. Most were no more than 14 years old. He stepped up next to a brown-haired blue-eyed boy who was nearly 13 years old, and smiled at him. Carter grinned back and led the class to a room further down the hall. Remy had met Carter, Annie's little boy, the previous night for dinner, and they'd quickly come to like each other.

They entered a room on the left side of the hallway, and the children quickly took their seats, not knowing what to expect from their new teacher. Remy snagged the papers Ororo had left, and leaned back on the front portion of the large desk at the front of the room, looking them over.

"Alrigh', _Peeshwanks_. My name's Gambit. Says here you're learnin' 'bout European history right now."

He pushed himself off from the desk, and his eyes slid over the class. "First, let's go 'round de room an' tell me y'names, an' den we can talk 'bout de," He paused and looked over the notes and then his eyes widened and he smiled in satisfaction at the topic of the class, "French Revolution."

* * *

"Thank ye for teachin' us, Mister Gambit," a young teenage girl said to Remy with a heavy Scottish accent. She smiled shyly at him as she stood up from her desk to follow the others filing from the classroom.

He smiled. "Y'welcome, Rahne. Y'might just have me for a teacher a lot more de next few weeks."

He watched as Rahne and the others filed out, and then moved forward toward one of the younger girls in the class. "Hey Sally, mind stayin' a few minutes? I wanted t'talk to you."

The young blond-haired girl nodded nervously at him. She sat back down in her seat, and Remy walked over and pulled one of the student chairs up in front of her desk and sat down. "D-did I do something wrong?" She asked him nervously.

He flashed her a grin and shook his head. "No, no – unless y'know somethin' I don't."

"I heard from Professor Munroe what you been through. Just wanted t'say if y'wanted to talk 'bout what happened down dere, y'can talk to me."

Sally paled, and looked down at the desk, not saying anything.

Remy leaned forward, noticing the dark circles around her eyes. "You havin' trouble sleepin'?" He asked her.

Sally nodded shyly. "Y-yeah. I have lots of bad dreams – everyone's screaming and dying."

Remy nodded. "It'll help if y'talk to someone. Doesn' hafta be me – anyone dat you trust." He leaned closer, his voice becoming softer. "I have de same dreams."

She looked up at him in surprise. "You do?"

He nodded. "I was down dere."

Her face scrunched up in confusion. "I-I don't remember you livin' with us…"

He shook his head. "I didn'. I found out what was happenin' an' tried t'stop dem, but I got dere too late."

She looked at him for a moment and then her face crumpled, tears coming to her eyes. "They're all dead. Everyone I knew."

Remy reached out and grabbed one of her small hands, and shook his head. "Not ev'ryone. Y'friend Sarah – she's still alive. She was de only person I could save."

She looked up at him, tears running down her cheeks. "She's alive? Really?" She asked, shocked.

Remy smiled at her and squeezed her hand. "Yeah, she's alive. I'm gonna bring her here t'morrow – she's gonna go t'school here like you. She tol' me you two got split up down dere an' we heard on one of de radios dat you escaped."

Sally nodded. "Yeah. I thought I was the only one left." She said, and then gave Remy a shy hug. "Thank you, Mister Gambit, for tellin' me that."

He pulled back and smiled at her. "Y'welcome. An' if y'need to talk 'bout anythin' I'll listen."

Sally smiled and nodded. Remy leaned back in the chair and snagged several Kleenex from the box on Ororo's desk, and handed them to Sally. She wiped the tear tracks away, and blew her nose, and then stood up. "I should get going, sir. I've gotta go to another class now." She said, starting for the door.

"Sally," he said, causing her to pause and look back at him. "I haven' tol' Sarah you're here. Be in de kitchen tomorrow b'fore class, an' we'll give her a surprise welcome to de mansion."

Sally grinned. "Alright."

As she left the room, Remy stood and stretched. He'd actually enjoyed teaching them – it had been a class he hadn't thought he'd be teaching, but it had been…. fun.

Remy replaced the notes on the desk, and moved out of the room, flicking off the lights as he left. He turned and nearly collided with Ororo.

"Stormy!" He said in surprise. "Y'nearly gave me a heart attack," he said, holding a hand over his chest, feigning shock. "Y'shouldn' do dat to a poor guy."

Ororo rolled her eyes. "Yes, I guess I shouldn't sneak up on poor old men like yourself."

Remy grinned. "Hey now, I ain' dat old."

Ororo smiled at him. "Whatever keeps you going, Remy."

She surprised him by pulling him into a quick hug. "What was dat for, Stormy? Not dat I'm complainin'." He said with a devilish grin.

Ororo blushed. "I just wanted to thank you for taking over the class."

Remy shrugged. "Wasn't any problem, Stormy."

"How did it go? Did they behave themselves?"

Remy nodded. "Yeah dey did. I think part of dat might've been me bein' someone dey didn' really know. But it went good."

His expression became more serious. "An' I talked wit' Sally after class."

"And?" She prodded hopefully.

"An' I c'n tell she's havin' trouble sleeping. Said she was havin' bad dreams. I tol' her she should talk t'me or someone else 'bout dem, an' tol' her I have de same ones." He said, and tried to ignore the concerned look Ororo shot him. "I think us talkin' 'bout it will help her out. An' I tol' her Sarah made it out of de tunnels – she was really happy t'hear dat."

Ororo smiled at him. "Thank you, Remy."

He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Dere any more surprise classes y'want me to teach?"

She shook her head. "Hopefully not today. Logan's back – apparently he just went for a run in the woods after he got in an argument with Scott, and he'll be able to take care of the rest of Scott's classes today." She then sighed. "But Scott is gone. Charles is going to use Cerebro to look for him, but I have a feeling he's not planning on coming back."

She looked up into Remy's eyes. "Tomorrow afternoon Charles would like you to lead Scott's Shop class. Apparently they've been doing something with motorcycles," she said, and bit her lip to keep from laughing when she saw Remy's eyes gleam eagerly.

"Ain't a problem, Stormy." He said with a lopsided grin. "Now, I'm gonna go get somethin' to eat – I missed breakfast."

Storm grinned and swatted him on the butt. He yelped in surprise. She looked at him expectantly. "Aw, can't have you starving, now can we?" She looked at him thoughtfully. "Although you should hardly be hungry after the way you were pigging out last night with Rogue and Annie."

Remy rolled his eyes and walked off toward the kitchen, grumbling something about intolerable weather witches, and ignoring her laugh that followed him down the hall.

* * *

"I think Remy rather enjoyed his little teaching experience this morning," Ororo said as she walked next to her mentor.

Charles smiled up at her from his wheelchair. He'd ended his Mutant Ethics class a bit early when he'd noticed the weather begin to change outside. He'd found a somewhat upset Ororo outside, and asked her to come with him.

He'd managed to get her mind off of the Danger Room exercise earlier that morning which Scott had not shown up for – and the fact that he'd seemed to have left – by asking her how Remy's substitution in her history class had gone.

"I was hoping he would like it. It would ease one of my many headaches if I could count on him to teach next year."

Ororo nodded. "I think you should be able to. I also talked to a few of my kids, and they were quite pleased with him. They seem to think he's the best teacher they've ever had," she said with a smile, "I'm not sure whether or not I should be insulted or pleased."

Charles chuckled. "So what is bothering you? Besides this morning's Danger Room session, that is."

"Magneto's a fugitive, we have mutant in the cabinet, we've got a President who understands us. Why are we still hiding?"

"We're not hiding. But we still have enemies out there. People like Creed's assistant and likely Creed himself. And I must protect my students. You know that." He said, glancing over at her.

"Yes, but we can't be students forever." She said, sighing slightly.

Charles laughed. "Storm, I haven't thought of you as my student for years. In fact, I thought that perhaps… you might take my place some day."

Ororo looked over at him, stopping in her tracks, a surprised expression on her face.

"But… Scott's-"

Charles shook his head and interrupted her. "Scott is a changed man. He took Jean's death so hard. Yes, things are hard out there. But you of all people know how fast the weather can change." He said quietly.

Ororo looked at him for a moment. "There's something you're not telling us." She said, a statement more than a question.

Xavier looked away, and maneuvered his wheelchair past her, and she followed closely behind as they entered his office.

Ororo saw a well-dressed man inside looking at a painting on the wall of the office. His neatly combed blue hair, and the blue fur covering his body were an instant giveaway to Xavier's visitor.

"Hank?" She said, surprised, and he turned around.

"Ororo! Charles!" He said, smiling at them. He stepped forward and pulled Ororo into a tight hug.

Ororo laughed, and pulled back. "I love what you've done with your hair," she said – the last time she'd seen him he'd had it grown out much longer and pulled into a neat ponytail.

Hank smiled. "You too," he said, commenting on her somewhat shorter hairstyle.

Hank turned and looked at the Professor, extending his hand. "Thank you for seeing me on such short notice."

Charles smiled and shook his hand. "Henry, you are always welcome here. You're a part of this place."

"I have news." He said, his expression becoming more serious.

"Is it Erik?" Xavier asked, somewhat hopeful.

Hank shook his head. "No. Although we are making progress on that front. Mystique was recently apprehended."

"Who's the furball?" A voice asked from the doorway, and everyone turned to see Logan standing there.

Hank let out a soft laugh. "Hank McCoy. Secretary of Mutant Affairs."

Logan nodded and began to walk in. "Right, right, the Secretary. Nice suit." He said, his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

Charles gestured to him. "Henry, this is Logan. He's –"

Hank broke in with a nod of recognition. "Wolverine. I hear you're quite the animal."

Logan smiled tightly. "Look who's talking."

"You know Magneto's going to come get Mystique, right?" Ororo asked, cutting through the building tension.

A knock at the doorway broke the remaining tension. Remy stood there, looking curiously at Hank. "Dis a bad time, Prof?"

Ororo shook her head. "No, come in." She gestured to Hank. "This is Hank. He's an old friend of mine."

Remy stepped forward into the room, nodding respectfully toward the blue-furred man. "Nice t'meet you. Name's Gambit."

"It's a pleasure." He looked back to Ororo. "Magneto's not the problem. At least not our most pressing one. A major pharmaceutical company has developed a 'mutant antibody'. A way to suppress the Mutant X-Gene."

"Suppress?" Logan asked him, sounding a bit skeptical.

Hank nodded. "Permanently. They're calling it a 'cure'."

Everyone was silent for several moments. Remy's eyes narrowed, not liking the idea, nor the repercussions it could have. Mutants were already treated bad enough. Now they could "cure" them of their abilities? He suspected it wouldn't be long until it was demanded of them by those who hated them.

Ororo shook her had. "That's ridiculous. You can't 'cure' being a mutant." She said, looking to Hank.

"Well, scientifically speaking –"

Ororo broke him off. "Since when did we become a disease. How can anyone in their right –"

"Dis –" Remy began.

Charles interrupted all of them quietly. "Storm, Gambit – They're announcing it now."

* * *

Rogue walked down the hallway away from the kitchen having just eaten a light lunch. She shook her head, trying to clear the images that kept playing through it. Images of the Danger Room session earlier that morning – of Bobby and Kitty in a rather intimate looking embrace.

She knew it was silly of her to be upset – she'd seen why they were in that embrace – but it had looked so…. **real**, that it had shaken her. She wasn't all that sure that Bobby and herself would have a chance and seeing Kitty and Bobby like that had hit close to home to her – reminding her of what she hadn't had with Bobby for weeks now. And what she now admitted she might want with Remy if he liked her as much as she liked him

The sight of a number of students quickly entering the living room caught her attention, pulling her thoughts from Bobby. She walked to the doorway and looked inside. A large number of students were gathered around the plasma television in the living room. According to the words streaming across the bottom of the screen, a nationwide news conference was being held in the San Francisco area – an announcement that involved mutants.

The picture on the screen showed a helicopter shot of the Bay area, the Golden Gate Bridge visible in the distance. It zoomed in toward an island in the Bay, one instantly recognizable to Rogue as the island of Alcatraz, formerly home to one of the most famous prisons in the country.

Rogue stepped further into the room and sat down next to Jubilee and Dani, her eyes on the television. The picture changed to show a middle-aged man with graying hair walking up to a podium. Rogue recognized him as Warren K. Worthington Jr., a billionaire pharmaceutical company owner – she'd done a short paper on him and his company earlier that year.

"These so called mutants are people just like us," the man began, "their affliction is nothing more than a disease. A corruption of healthy cellular activity. But I stand here today and tell you there's hope. And this site, once the world's most famous prison, will now be the source of freedom for all mutants who chose it.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I proudly present the Answer to mutation. Finally, we have a _cure_." He said proudly, holding up a syringe filled with some sort of fluid.

Rogue stared at the television screen, and felt her heartbeat speed up as she realized exactly what he was talking about. A **cure**? She could hardly wrap her mind around the idea.

* * *

"Who would want this cure?" Ororo asked from where she'd sat on one of the chairs Xavier had offered them. "I mean what kind of coward would take it just to fit in?

Hank looked over to her, his expression curious at her statement. "Is it cowardice to save oneself from persecution?" He asked her. "Not all of us can fit in so easily. You don't shed on the furniture." He said, smiling slightly.

"For all we know the government cooked this up," Logan said.

"I can assure you the government had nothing to do with this." Hank replied, looking him in the eye.

Logan snorted and shook his head. "Yeah, we've all heard that before."

Hank looked indignant. "My boy, I have been fighting for mutant rights since before you had claws."

"Did he just call me boy?" Logan asked Remy incredulously.

Remy smirked and nodded. "I b'leive he did. Now, I woulda jus' called ya old man." Remy said.

Logan chuckled and shook his head, looking again in Hank's direction.

Everyone's attention was then drawn to the doorway when Rogue walked in, an almost hopeful expression on her face. Behind her they could see several other students waiting in the hall.

Rogue almost stopped, seeing Remy in the room, but she had to know. "Is it true? They can cure us?" She asked, trying not to notice the slight frown that appeared on Remy's face at her question.

"Yes Rogue, it appears to be true." Xavier said reluctantly.

Ororo spoke up then. "No, Professor. They can't cure us." She said, and then stood, and walked over to Rogue, placing her hands on her shoulders. "You wanna know why? Because there's nothing to cure. Nothing's wrong with you."

She looked around to the others. "Or any of us for that matter."

Rogue's eyebrows scrunched up, but she didn't say anything, still avoiding looking in Remy's direction.

"Ororo –" Xavier began, but Remy surprised him when he interrupted.

"Dis thing ain' just gonna be a 'cure'. It's gonna be a 'solution'. I don' think it's gonna stop at somethin' voluntary – dey're gonna try t'force everyone to take dis to get rid of us. 'Least dat's what I'd do if I had somet'ing to take away de advantages dat de people I hate have." He said.

He raised a hand to forestall an objection by Hank. "I know, I know. I'm not sayin' de people dat made this hate mutants. For all we know dey're tryin' t'help people dat're under all dis discrimination. But dat doesn' mean everyone else won' do it. Friends of Humanity, all dese other mutant groups, you t'ink dey're gonna stop at a voluntary program when dey've got a way to get rid of us?"

Hank frowned, and nodded slightly. He couldn't deny the logic behind Remy's statement. But he didn't see how, they'd be able to do anything remotely like that.

Xavier cleared his throat, bringing all their gazes to him. "Perhaps we should continue this discussion later. I believe it might be best for me to address all of the concerns and questions of the students at this news."

Hank nodded. "Good idea, Charles."

Charles smiled at him. "Thank you for visiting and telling us about this, Henry. Stay as long as you'd like – and don't be a stranger. You're quite welcome here at any time."

Hank smiled back and shook his hand. "Thank you, Charles, but I really must be going. The President has asked me to visit Worthington Labs and talk to the lead scientist there about their 'cure'."

Hank nodded to the others in the room, and gave Ororo a quick hug. "It's been a delight."

As Hank walked out the door past a growing crowd of students, Xavier turned his wheelchair toward the doorway. "Best get the questions over with now," he said with a sigh before leading the others out of the office.

* * *

Rogue stared down through the viewport of the Danger Room, mesmerized. Remy stood in the Danger Room, facing a training dummy the Danger Room had set up. He wore only a loose pair of pants, and a sheen of sweat was visible across his bare upper torso.

And then he was moving, and it was like he began to blur, his feet and hands making contact with the padded dummy almost too fast to follow. His legs moved in what looked like a deadly dance as his feet struck out time and again in a wide variety of kicks.

Rogue shook her head, and managed to tear her eyes from Remy. She turned and walked down the staircase that led to the Danger Room floor. She quietly pulled the door open, and stepped inside. She didn't think Remy had seen her enter, but a few moments later his blows to the dummy slowed, and came to a stop and he turned to face her.

"Hey," he said panting slightly, a silly grin on his face.

"Hi," she said quietly.

Remy grabbed a towel from the floor, and wiped the sweat from his chest before draping the towel over his shoulders and walking closer to her.

"What was that?" She asked him.

He looked at her for a moment, confused, and then looked back at the dummy. "Oh, dat. _Savate_." He paused to use the towel to wipe some sweat from his eyes. "Actually, it's technically _Savate_ _de Rue_ wit' some of de moves I was usin'."

Rogue nodded, recognizing the term. "French kickboxing."

Remy smiled. "Yeah. _Savate de Rue_ is de street version – no limitations on just usin' feet an' hands, an' it can be a bit dirtier."

Rogue reached up and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, trying her hardest not to stare at Remy's bare chest. To her embarrassment he noticed the direction of her gaze, and gave her a grin that made it feel as if the temperature in the room had risen several degrees. He dropped the towel, and grabbed a light T-shirt he'd laid near the door and slipped it on, much to her relief.

In one fluid movement he sat cross-legged on the floor, and gestured to her. She followed suit, sitting down across from him.

She looked up at him, feeling flustered and shy. '_How does he do this to me?_' She wondered to herself – she felt like a young schoolgirl with her first crush. A slight blush was still on her cheeks.

"Remy, would yah…. would yah mind teaching me some of that sometime?"

He looked at her with a bit of surprise. "Savate? Sure, _Chère_." He said.

Rogue smiled, her cheeks reddening a bit at the nickname he now used for her. She leaned forward, blowing a strand of hair from her eyes. "Thanks. Now what'd yah want t'talk about?" She asked him – earlier at dinner he'd asked her to meet him in the Danger Room.

Remy smiled. "Well, I thought we could work some more wit' your powers." Then he looked somewhat hesitantly at her. "An' maybe talk 'bout what happened t'day."

Rogue let out a tremulous sigh. One part of her had hoped he wouldn't bring up the cure, but the other part had been hoping he would – that he'd want to talk to her about it. "Okay," she said.

Remy leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. "What d'you think of it? Dis 'cure'?"

Rogue looked down at her lap, and bit her lip.

"_Chère_, I ain' gonna get mad at anythin' y'tell me, long as y'tell me how you're _really_ feelin' about dis."

Rogue looked up slightly, and sighed. "Ah- Ah'm not sure what ta think about it. Ah think it could be good for people that really have problems with their mutations. An' then at th' same time it seems kinda… Ah don't know… cowardly t'do it."

Her voice quivered. "Ah'm not sure what to do. Ah mean, this'd be perfect for someone like me to live a normal life, but –" She looked down again. "Everyone will think of me as th'coward that couldn' handle her powers an' took the easy way out." Tears appeared in her eyes. "An' Ah'm even more afraid you'll think the same thing. Ah don't know what ta do."

Remy shifted from where he sat, and she closed her eyes in resignation, thinking he was getting up – too upset to even talk with her. She was shocked when his hand slid under her chin, nudging her face up to look toward his. She felt his warm thumb brush away one of the tears that had begun to slide down her cheek, and she opened her eyes.

He had moved, but only to get closer to her. She found herself mere inches away from his face, and what shocked her the most were his eyes. The red-on-black eyes didn't hold the disgust or disappointment she'd expected from him, but rather concern and something else. '_Affection_?' She wondered, but tried to not get her hopes up.

He looked at her seriously, staring directly into her eyes. His hand finally eased from her chin as her ability began to drain him too much. "Rogue. I don' think dat 'bout you, an' I'd never think it. You're not a coward for thinkin' 'bout takin' dis cure."

He sighed and passed a hand over his face. "I won' think anythin' less of you if y'take it. You've had it worse than most mutants – yours just isn' visible. I do wan' you t'think carefully before y'do anythin'. An'…. I'd like us t'keep up our sessions 'till you decide."

Rogue smiled shakily and reached forward, carefully giving him a quick hug. "Thanks, Remy. Ah really needed t'hear that from yah."

Remy smiled back. "I know – knew we'd be havin' dis talk back when I heard 'bout dis 'cure'." He looked at her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "I wan' you to think really hard 'bout it before you decide what to do. An' jus' remember you'll be able t'get dis any time in de future, but y'might not be able to ever take it back. Sometimes we only realize de t'ings we're missin' when dey're gone."

She looked at him thoughtfully and nodded. She wiped the tears from her cheeks, and then smiled and pulled off her glove before she tentatively extended her hand out toward his.

Remy smiled and reached out to touch her hand and begin their next session. He'd given her something to think about – she could easily make the decision to give up her power, but it might not be so easy if at all possible to get it back once it was gone.

Privately he hoped she'd decide to not take the cure and instead continue working with him, but he quickly realized it was only because he felt she could very well regret taking it and carry that regret with her for the rest of her life.

* * *

Erik looked up expectantly as John entered the small hotel room they'd rented.

John looked at his expression. "You've heard then?" He asked Magneto.

Erik's face twisted in distaste. "The 'cure'? Yes, I heard as it was announced. This is just the beginning. We must begin to take action." He paused and looked down at John. "What did Lorelei have to say?"

John sighed. "Not a whole lot. She says DHS is playing this really close to the chest. She hasn't been able to find out where Mystique is being held. But rumor has it she's going to be moved in two days. She said she'll keep pressing her contacts to try to find out where."

Erik nodded, and led John from the hotel room, and down the stairs to the exit. "I had hoped she could find out more, but no matter. The recruits?" He asked John, looking sharply at him.

"I found the ideal place for us to get some. Just down the road from here actually."

Erik nodded and let John lead him down the street. After walking nearly a mile though a somewhat run-down neighborhood, they neared what appeared to be an old church.

Erik spotted a yellow flyer on a telephone pole, and squinted to read it clearly. '**Community Action meeting – Holy Trinity Church, 7 P.M. – No Humans Allowed!**' it announced.

Erik pulled open the door and entered – the church seemed as run-down as the surrounding neighborhood. Broken plaster from the ceiling littered the floor around the altar, and debris from various vagrants that had inhabited the building in the past was strewn around the floor. Only the long pews and still-colorful stained glass windows testified to its previous use as a church.

Erik's eyes ran appraisingly over the rather large crowd of mutants that had gathered and seated on the pews, more mutants filing in through the front door behind him and taking seats. He finally nodded in satisfaction, and seated himself in one of the back pews. When John followed suit next to him, Erik leaned over and quietly spoke to him, a small smile on his face. "I think this will do quite well."

* * *

_**A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed it (thanks for all the reviews last time!). **_

_**Watched X-men Origins, and definitely enjoyed it. Ryan Reynolds definitely impressed me as Deadpool (totally loved the breaking of the fourth wall).**_

_**Absolutely loved Taylor Kitsch as Gambit – a few disappointments (wish they'd done the eyes more than just glowing when he used his powers, and wish he'd put on more of a Cajun accent rather than the more generic southern one he used), but overall loved it – I think he captured the character quite well.**_

_**Sarah will be coming to the mansion next chap and there'll likely be a lot more Romy. The big breakup will, I think, happen the chapter after that (if things play out according to the rough outline I have).**_


	11. Chapter 11: Flight

_**Disclaimer: X-men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway ;)**_

_A/N: Hey all, thanks for all the feedback last chapter everyone! Here we have a pretty decent sized chapter (one of my longer ones). A nice amount of Romy, and we learn some things from the pasts of both Rogue and Remy. And Sarah, finally! Enjoy!_

**Chapter 11: Flight**

* * *

"This is perfect," Graydon said with a smile, looking up from the papers and across the hotel room to Ron. He had swept for any listening devices in the room, and ended up finding one which he promptly smashed and tossed off the balcony.

He'd settled in the hotel for the night, and the next day he would be making his first speech after the Cure announcement. He'd just finished looking over a copy of the speech they'd prepared for him.

Graydon set the speech aside. "I don't think this announcement could have come at a better time. I was a little worried about the Pennsylvania primaries next week, but with this, I don't think we'll be able to lose."

The race so far had been close between himself and his opponent, Richard Wagner, and while Graydon had narrowly won in important states like Texas and Ohio, his lead was a little too small for his comfort. He needed a large win in Pennsylvania, and then a sweep in the states holding their primaries after that in May to clinch the nomination.

Ron nodded. "I don't think Wagner stands a chance now that we have something like this to back up our stance on mutants."

"Alright," Graydon said. "Now, about the organizations. I saw the clip of the sermon of the Church of Humanity that CNN played. We need to make sure the rest start emphasizing this Cure. Talk to Friends of Humanity and the Anti-Mutant League and make sure they get as vocal as possible."

"We need the public to know that this Cure shows just what we've been saying all along – mutants are freaks of nature, and no one should have to live in fear of them, especially when we have the ability now to remove the thing that makes them mutants."

"I think this will also help us push through the Registration Act - people will be clamoring for mutants to register so they know who has taken the Cure and who they still should fear."

Ron nodded, and stood. "I'll start getting into contact with them tonight. Hopefully they'll start the media campaign after your speech tomorrow morning."

He paused by the door. "Oh, by the way, that merc who talked to the police and claimed Friends of Humanity hired him – I just heard the unfortunate news that he got into a disagreement with someone in the prison yard and was shanked to death." He said, an twisted smile on his face, before he left the room, hearing Graydon's short laugh as he went.

* * *

Rogue tossed the sheets off of her body as she heard soft footsteps in the hallway. She glanced at her clock and realized it was slightly after four in the morning. She crept to the door and slowly opened it. She peeked out and saw Remy walking down the hall toward the stairs, wearing his trenchcoat. '_What is he up to_?' Rogue wondered. '_Only one way to find out_,' she thought to herself.

She moved to her dresser and threw on some clothes and left the room. She quietly tailed Remy, following him down the stairs but always staying a floor above him as he descended. She felt an odd thrill creep through her at the little game she was playing, and wondered if this had been the feeling Remy had been talking about when he described going on a heist.

She heard him pause for a moment as he reached the stairs to the basement, and she froze in place, holding her breath until he started down the stairs. She followed more slowly, and because of that she almost lost him, but she managed to spot the tail of his coat swish through the door to the hangar.

She frowned and followed, peeking through the doorway. She saw the ramp to one of the smaller planes was lowered, and light from the inside cast shadows across the concrete floor of the hangar. She crept forward, and was startled when she heard the whining of the hydraulics as the ramp began to rise.

She made a decision in a split second, and dashed across the hangar floor. She made it onto the ramp as it closed, and she suppressed her instinct to gasp for air. She moved quietly behind the last set of seats and squeezed between them and the bulkhead, sitting on the cool metal floor.

She sat quietly for several minutes as Remy flicked through instruments on the panels in front of him and finally started up the engines. A low rumbling vibration built up as the engines spooled up, and she distantly heard a klaxon sound as the doors above them opened.

'_What did I just get myself into?_' She wondered.

* * *

The klaxon on the basketball court, and the low rumbling as the jet took off woke a number of people from their sleep. Bobby Drake was one of them. He stumbled out of bed and looked blearily out the window, and caught sight of the glowing afterburner on the small jet.

He pulled on a shirt and left his room. He was a little worried he'd forgotten about a mission and had been left behind, but as he racked his memory he couldn't think of anything they'd had planned.

His worries were eased when he saw Piotr and Storm in the hall on the next floor, trying to get the students to get back in their beds.

Within about ten minutes, they'd gotten everyone back in their rooms, and Bobby followed Piotr down to Xavier's room. Ororo had gone upstairs, promising to be along in a minute.

Bobby rapped on the door, and Xavier opened it – he'd put on a nightgown and was moving about in his wheelchair. "Bobby, Piotr, come in," he greeted them.

A few moments later Ororo, who looked worried, entered the room with Logan. "Didn't realize we set up a mission for tonight, Charles," Logan said dryly.

Xavier smiled ruefully. "We didn't. But it appears our new friend decided to set one up for himself, and borrowed one of our planes."

"Can you get any read on him?" Ororo asked, worried.

Xavier shook his head. "Like I told you, his powers render his mind unreadable to telepaths. I can, however, get a read on his passenger."

Ororo's eyes widened. "Rogue?" She guessed, and he confirmed it with a nod.

"I knew it!" Bobby said angrily. "I knew we shouldn't trust him. We let a guy into the mansion that the Professor can't even tell what he's thinking, and now he's stolen our jet and kidnapped my girlfriend." He scowled, remembering something he'd heard. "Scott said Gambit is a professional thief. Who knows what he's going to do?"

"Bobby!" Storm said angrily. "He wouldn't steal our jet, or kidnap Rogue –" She began.

"You're just saying that because you're the one that invited him here and you don't want to be responsible for what he does." Bobby broke in heatedly.

"Enough, Bobby." Xavier said firmly, causing him to shut up. "Rogue has not been 'kidnapped', nor does she feel she is in any sort of danger. In fact, the impression I got off of her was that she snuck onto the plane before he took off."

He paused and looked to Ororo. "As to stealing the plane, I do not believe he has. He's merely using it to pick up a friend – something he told both Ororo and myself he was going to do." Ororo's eyes widened when she realized what he was saying.

Charles shook his head in amusement. "Although I must say I did not think that this would be the method he chose to get there."

He turned his gaze to the others in the room. "Now, Gambit has promised to teach shop class this afternoon, and I believe he is a man of his word, so I expect both of them will be back before lunchtime."

"Now let's all go back to bed, and give ourselves time to calm our tempers," he said looking directly at Bobby, "and get some sleep before classes tomorrow morning."

Bobby fumed silently for a moment, and then turned and strode out the door. He was followed shortly after, at a more sedate pace, by the others until only Ororo and Xavier remained.

Ororo sighed. "I'm really sorry about this, Charles," she began, but stopped when he shook his head gently.

"Give it no thought, Ororo. When he'd mentioned he was going to pick up Sarah, I should have realized he had no personal transportation and asked him how he would get down there. I never guessed he'd borrow our jet, although now that I think about it, I shouldn't be suprised." He said, smiling. "I must say having him around may just keep us on our toes."

Ororo laughed. "It definitely will."

"If you will excuse me, I think I will try to get back to sleep," Charles said with a smile.

Ororo nodded, and closed the door behind her. She shook her head, walking back to her room. '_Remy LeBeau, you are getting a good talking to when you get back_,' she thought to herself.

* * *

The engines stopped whining loudly as the jet leveled off several minutes into the flight. Rogue cursed to herself when she felt a cramp starting in her leg where it was pressed to the cold floor.

She was startled when Remy suddenly spoke out loud. She could hear amusement in his voice. "Y'can come out now, y'know. I'd think it's pretty uncomfortable back dere for you."

Her breath caught in her chest, and she slowly peeked her head over the seat back. She could see Remy's grin faintly on the glass of the windshield, but his eyes never left the control panel.

She sighed and stood up, stretching her leg and relieving the cramp. She walked slowly to the front of the plane and sat gratefully in the soft seat of the co-pilot's chair.

Remy looked over at her, the grin still on his face. "Y'did pretty decent, _Chére_," he said with amusement. "Didn' even realize anyone was followin' me 'till I got to de main floor."

Rogue started at that – she'd thought it was odd how he paused before walking down the basement. "So yah knew Ah was followin' yah an' y'just let me get onboard with yah?" She asked incredulously.

Remy nodded. "Knew someone was followin', an' den I saw it was you from de cockpit when y'stuck your head through de door to de hangar. I figured I might as well let y'tag along. I c'n definitely use de company for de trip, and you're probably one of de only people I'd want t'spend time with, cooped up in dis little plane."

Rogue tried to hide a smile at that. She looked out the window at the clouds that they were flying through, and then down at the GPS screen in the instrument panel, noting they were flying southwest.

"So where is it we're goin'?" Rogue asked curiously. "Are you gonna steal something?"

Remy laughed. "No, _Chére,_ I tol' you, I'm gettin' out of de business." He said. "No, we're goin' to a place in north Louisiana."

Rogue's eyes widened in understanding. "Oh! Sarah?" She asked knowingly.

He nodded. "Yeah, tol' her I'd be pickin' her up dis week, but I didn' tell her when. Wanted t'surprise her."

Rogue laughed. "Well, coming in a jet will certainly be pretty suprisin'," she remarked wryly.

Remy grinned back as he eased the jet higher, and then kicked in the autopilot. "Dat's what I'm countin' on."

"So Ah take it yah know how to fly?" She asked, amused.

Remy nodded over to her. "Yeah, flew some cropdusters back home – friend of mine taught me. Flown a few private jets. Learned how to fly dose just b'fore my powers came out, goin' on business trips wit' my _pére_ – our pilot took a likin' to me an' my eagerness 'bout flyin', an' he even let me pilot an entire trip wit' him watchin' me."

"Also happened t'...'borrow'... an old military jet in Columbia," he added. When she looked at him incredulously, he shrugged. "You really don' wanna know" he said, shaking his head as he remembered that particular caper – his first mission with the Thieves Guild.

He sat back, and turned slightly in his seat. He pulled out a pack of cards, and opened them up, shuffling them smoothly from hand to hand. "Looks like we got 'bout three hours at dis speed. Wanna play a game?"

Rogue's eyes lit up, and she turned her seat to face his. "Sure! What did yah have in mind?"

"Well, we could do somethin' simple, like War, or Crazy Eights" Remy said nonchalantly, "or we could do somethin' else. Ever play strip poker?" He asked innocently.

Rogue's jaw dropped. "Remy!" She exclaimed, blushing furiously.

He broke into laughter at her expression, and almost lost his grip on the deck of cards. "I'm just playin' wit' you _Chére_."

Rogue shut her mouth, and sent him a mock glare as she tried to fight down her blush. "As a matter of fact, no, Ah haven't. Never even played regular poker."

Remy looked at her sympathetically. He could hardly imagine someone never having learned to play his favorite card game. "Well den, would you like me to teach you?"

Rogue bit her lip to stop a smile from spreading on her face. "Ah can take mah own clothes off perfectly fine without anyone teachin' me, thank yah very much!" She said primly, trying to hide the amusement in her voice.

Remy stared at her in amazement for several moments, and began laughing again. "_Touché,"_ he managed through his laughter.

This was a side of her that he hadn't really seen before – willing and able to match his teasing and banter with her own. And it was a side he decided he liked – typically the women he had his flings with didn't care about his teasing and jokes, or they became flustered when he did joke and flirt with them. Few actually responded with the same.

"Well," he said, "If you'd like me t'teach you how t'play poker, I can do dat." He said as he got his laughter under control.

Rogue smiled, and nodded, and then pressed a button on the control panel, which extended a small table from the console.

Over the next two hours, Remy taught her the basics of poker, both Five-Card draw, and the version he considered one of the simplest for someone new to it to learn: Texas Hold'em.

He finally shuffled the cards, and began to deal them out. "Y'seem to have caught Hold'em pretty good- let's play dat." Rogue nodded eagerly and he continued. "Since it doesn' look like you got any pockets in dat outfit I'm guessin' we ain't gonna be playin' for money." He said with a smile.

Rogue shrugged. "What d'yah wanna play for then?" He opened his mouth, and she shot him a mock glare. "Don't yah dare say clothes," she scolded.

Remy grinned. "While dat would be nice, I was gonna suggest this. How 'bout each time one of us loses, we tell de other person a story 'bout ourselves."

Rogue's expression softened. That was something she hadn't expected him to suggest, but she really liked the idea. "Really?" She asked.

"_Oui_," he said, smiling. "I know I'd like t'get t'know you better, an' dis'd be a good way."

Rogue smiled. "Alright. Deal me in." Once he'd dealt to each of them, she reached out and gently snagged his sunglasses from his face. "Ah don' have anythin' t'hide mah eyes, so it's not fair if yah wear these," she scolded.

Remy gave her a pout, and she felt her heart skip a beat. "Alright, _Chére,"_ he said, flipping the cards around in one hand before sending them effortlessly fluttering to the other. He dealt out two cards to each of them, and set down the deck.

The first bet, he folded, having a Two and an Ace. The next hand he went in pocket aces, and the River card – the fifth card turned over – turned it into a three of a kind, beating our Rogue's two pair.

Remy smoothly pulled the cards back together and began shuffling. "So, tell me somethin' 'bout you dat I don' know."

Rogue leaned back and thought for a moment, and nodded to herself as she came to a decision. "How would yah like t'hear 'bout mah sister?"

Remy shook his head. "You got a sister?"

Rogue nodded. "Ah did. Her name was Anna. She was only a year-and-a-half younger than me. We were best friends – did almost everythin' t'gether." She laughed slightly. "Ev'ryone that met us thought we were twins, acted so much alike, even if we didn' look identical."

Rogue sighed. "She died when Ah was fourteen. We were out with some friends at a creek we swam in ev'ry summer, an' she was tryin' t'show off to a guy she liked. She dove inta the water, but Ah guess it wasn't as deep as she thought it was." Rogue sniffled. "She broke her neck, an' by th'time we realized she wasn't comin' up, an' managed to get her out, she'd drowned."

Remy, who had placed down the deck as she began talking, looked at her in concern. He reached out and placed his hand on top of hers, squeezing it gently. "You okay, _Chére_?"

She gave him a bittersweet smile and wiped a lone tear from her face with her free hand. "Yeah."

He gave her a comforting smile. "Sorry, Rogue. Didn' plan on dis makin' y'cry"

She shook her head, and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "It's alright, Remy. Ah thought Ah was over what happened, an' Ah wanted ta finally tell someone Ah trust about it." She smiled gently at him. "Ah haven't even told Bobby or anyone else at th'mansinon that."

She pulled her hand back and straightened up. "Let's keep playin'."

He nodded, still looking at her, and then began dealing – he recognized she didn't want to dwell on what happened, and was pleasantly touched that she'd told him something she hadn't even told her boyfriend about.

Rogue folded the next two hands, but Remy won the one after with a 10-high straight over Rogue's 9-high straight.

He paused for a moment to glance at the instruments to ensure the jet was still running properly, and then turned back to Rogue.

"So what yah wanna know?" She asked him, expecting a request for another story.

Remy looked thoughtfully at her. "What's y'real name? Y'know mine, an' I'd like t'know yours."

"It's Marie. Marie D'Ancanto."

"Marie," he said softly. He looked up at her with a smile. "Pretty name."

Rogue blushed slightly. "Thanks. Ah started goin' by Rogue when Ah left home. Just wanted t'get away from all those memories."

Remy nodded in understanding. "Know what dat's like," he said, thinking of the day his own powers emerged.

He shuffled the cards once more, and dealt them out, and this time he was surprised when his two of a kind was beaten out by Rogue's three of a kind. He been unable to figure out her tell .

He leaned back in his seat. "Well, _Chére_, what d'you want me t'tell y'about?"

Rogue smiled. "How about one of yah jobs. One of yah most exciting ones."

Remy's eyebrows rose, and he sat for a few minutes, deep in thought. "Okay_ Chére_, let me tell y'bout de time I got hired t'steal for de government."

Rogue propped her chin up with her hand, and looked at him intently as he began to tell her his story.

* * *

_"Shut up," Remy hissed to the nervous man next to him. Alfred Monmouth was aging, his head balding and his eyeglasses having the appearance of thick coke-bottle glass. He was a short, fat man, who seemed to be constantly nervous._

_Remy turned his attention back to the wall in front of him. They'd managed to make it past the perimeter guards and to the back of the building. _

_Remy glanced at his watch. "Alright, accordin' to my man, de security system is goin' offline now t'do some software upgrades. We got half an hour. Stay close to me an' move when I move or we're both dead, _hein_?"_

_Alfred nodded rapidly. "S-sure."_

_Remy moved closer to the wall, and traced a small square shape along it with his ungloved index finger. As his finger ran along it, a glowing magenta line appeared. When Remy finished the shape, he removed his finger, and turned his head to the side and squeezed his eyes shut._

_A muffled thump sounded, and dust and particles flew up at their faces as the material he had charged exploded. He waved his hand to clear the air, and then kicked in the remaining material, and climbed through the hole in the wall._

_Inside, he landed in a crouch, and crept over to a control panel in the corner of the hallway they were in. Remy popped open the control panel, and played with the wires inside, setting up several bypasses. _

_Although the system itself, with the motion sensors and security cameras, would be down, the photo-electric beams along the halls would still be up and linked to a basic alarm so that if anything crossed the beams, it would still alert the security staff._

_His bypasses would keep sending the signal that the beam was not interrupted, while not actually reading the information from the beams themselves._

_He stood up, satisfied, and glanced at Alfred. "Let's go!" He whispered, and took off down the hallway at a full run. He ran through the maze of hallways, the blueprints running through his mind. They descended to what amounted to the basement level, and made their way to a small, back hallway that ended with a heavy steel security door._

_Remy frowned at the sophisticated electronic lock. These things took all the fun out of the job, he thought to himself as he pulled out a small device and hooked it up to the lock. It began to whir as it ran through numerous possible entry codes – relying on machines was nowhere near as exciting as actually breaking into a safe with just your hands and your ears._

_Remy leaned back against the wall as the device attempted to break the lock, and thought about what had brought him to this heist. _

_He'd been contacted over a week ago by a foreign man, and had gone to meet him. He'd been quite shocked when he found out that the Egyptian government wanted him to steal for them._

_They had information on a seller of stolen art and items, and knew that he had a very valuable scepter that had belonged to an Egyptian Pharaoh. The scepter had been stolen several years before from an Egyptian museum, and they had finally tracked it down, and wanted Remy to get it back._

_Remy readily agreed – they were offering him quite a tidy sum, and he wasn't going to complain. And really, what could be more fun than stealing something back from someone that bought the item from another thief? The only sour note was that he had to agree to take Alfred along._

_Alfred was supposedly an expert in Egyptology and art history, and they wanted him along to confirm the authenticity of the scepter before Remy removed it from the vault. The man just talks too much, Remy thought, listening to him mutter nervously to himself as he paced back and forth in the hall._

_Remy was broken from his thoughts when the device beeped, and the door swung open with a hiss of pressurized air. Remy removed the leads from the device, and tucked it back into his trenchcoat. _

_He pulled the heavy door the rest of the way open, and entered. Only to stop dead in his tracks as he faced a large door with a combination lock built into the front of it. "Merde," he whispered – his information hadn't told him about this door._

_He sighed and shook his head. 'Oh well, at least I get to do it the fun way this time,' he thought to himself._

_He pressed his ear against the door, and spent the next several minutes working out the combination, listening for the distinct clicks, and feeling for the kinetic vibrations by reaching out with his powers._

_Finally, the last number clicked, and he stepped back as the door swung open._

_Inside, he realized just how enormous the vault was. He could distantly see the back wall over the rows of shelves and standing objects that filled the room. He saw paintings from the Renaissance, ancient books behind glass panes in temperature controlled environments, statues from Greece and Rome, ancient weapons, and hundreds of other items._

_He carefully made his way through the room until he reached the area containing Egyptian artifacts, and a quick search revealed a long, golden scepter embedded with red and green gemstones._

_He turned and looked through the other objects as Alfred examined the scepter. He was running his hand over a collection of coins from Ancient Rome, when Alfred announced that the scepter was the real thing._

_Remy nodded absently, and walked back to it. He reached into a pocket and removed a long cloth bag, and carefully slipped the scepter into it before tying off the top of the bag. As he stood up and got ready to strap it to his back, he froze when he heard the distinct sound of a hammer of a gun being pulled back._

_He turned slowly to see Alfred looking at him with a steely expression, a pistol pointed steadily at Remy's chest. His nervous expression and demeanor was gone, having clearly been an act._

"_Whoa, dere, let's talk dis through. Jus' put away de gun, Alfred."_

_Alfred sneered at him. "Shut the hell up, Mutie. In an hour you'll be locked in here, and I'll be selling this scepter to a very interested collector from New York. The Egyptians were stupid enough to hire me, and it looks like you were stupid enough to go along with them. Now, slowly, set the scepter down and slide it over with your foot. We don't want you to drop it if I shoot you. Might damage it." He said with a grim smile._

"_Alright," Remy said softly. "I'm gonna put it down right now."_

_Remy slowly bent down and began to place it on the ground. A shout sounded from the entrance to the safe, and four security guards entered with weapons drawn. Alfred's eyes widened, and he dove behind a bookshelf for cover, firing blindly at the guards moved toward him._

_Remy, out of sight from the guards in his crouch, rolled swiftly in the direction opposite of Alfred, and quickly crawled in the direction of the vault door. He heard a grunt and a cry of pain as one of the guards was hit by Alfred's wild shots. _

_He crept past them, one row down, as they moved in on Alfred's position. Remy firmed up his grip on the scepter, and then rose from his crouch and sprinted for the vault door. He heard a shout behind him as the motion caught the eye of one of the guards, but he was already through. _

_He slammed the vault door shut, and heard a 'ping' as a bullet hammered into the door. He moved out of the small room, closed the second door, and breathed a sigh of relief. Both doors locked from the outside, so there was no way they would be getting out until someone let them out._

_He sprinted up the stairs and through the corridors once again, and paused near the photo-electric beams, to pick up a playing card that leaned directly in the path of one of them._

_He'd suspected there was more to Alfred than what he'd seen, and hadn't trusted the man. Because of that, he'd set up his bypass to the security beams with a tiny charge in the center of his wire, set to destroy the bypass wire twenty minutes after he placed it._

_As they had moved through the hallway, he had surreptitiously dropped one of his cards to interrupt the beam. Once the bypass self-destructed, the signal of the interrupted beam had been sent, alerting the guards, who had made their way down to the vault to check on it._

_Remy chuckled to himself as he slipped out the hole he'd created in the wall, and made his way once more past the perimeter security. Alfred would soon run out of bullets, and would have to surrender to the guards, and once they were all let out when someone realized they had been gone for too long, he'd be taking a nice trip to prison._

'_Now all I need to do is turn this in for my money,' Remy thought as he hopped onto his motorcycle and gunned it down the street, the adrenaline rush still pumping through his veins, making him feel giddy as he wove in and out of traffic toward the hotel where the Egyptian government agent was waiting for the scepter._

* * *

As Remy finished his story, Rogue, who had watched him with rapt fascination as he told it, shook her head in amazement, and laughed. "Wow, Remy, were all your jobs like that?"

Remy shrugged and smiled. "Some do have their excitement. And dere can be quite a bit of double-crossin' when y'work wit' others like dat."

"Ah can't believe yah knew he was gonna backstab yah, an y'already had planned for that."

Remy grinned. "Well, when you're in de business, y'learn quick to plan for as many ways for your heist t'go wrong as you can. I had no idea if he was going to do dat, but I could tell I shouldn' trust him. If he hadn't double-crossed me, de alarm woulda still gone off, an' we woulda had t'fight our way out, which woulda been easy goin' wit' my powers."

Rogue smiled at him. "Thanks for tellin' me that, Remy."

He nodded, grinning back. "Anytime y'want t'hear a good story, jus' ask me." He said, and then his attention was drawn to a beeping from the control panel.

He turned and looked, and then absently gathered the cards up in one hand and slid the deck into his pocket. "Guess dat was our last game – we're comin' up on de place," he said, and Rogue nodded, pressing the button to retract the small table.

He pulled the jet off of autopilot, and began bringing them in lower until they were brushing inches above the treetops, so that no one in the nearby town would see their approach.

Remy lowered the jet down onto its landing pads in a small clearing in the woods a mile away from Henri's house. Remy unbuckled his restraint harness, and stood from his seat as he shut down the engines, and ran through a quick post-flight check on the instruments.

He glanced to Rogue, who had also stood, and was stretching her legs after the long flight. "We made it," He said with a grin, and walked toward the control panel that opened the ramp. He and Rogue walked down the ramp when it settled down on the ground, and he closed the ramp behind them as they stepped onto the grassy meadow.

"Dis way," he said, pulling lightly on her arm, leading her in the direction of Henri's secluded home. As they walked through the trees, Rogue was reminded of their horse-riding trip just a few days ago.

The morning sun was out, illuminating patches of forest that weren't blocked out by the trees. After several minutes of walking, they came upon the edge of the forest. A few hundred yards away, Rogue saw a young girl kneeling along a row of small bushes, digging a hole with a small spade. The purplish-pink hair that hung down into her face as she dug, and the bony protrusions along her arms, exposed by the T-shirt she wore, identified her immediately as Sarah, who she'd seen in Remy's memories that flooded her head in a jumbled mess since she'd first touched him.

She also saw an older man also digging nearby, and he looked familiar to her as well – at least, familiar to the piece of Remy she had inside her psyche.

Rogue started to walk further out from the forest edge, but Remy grabbed her arm and held her back. She turned her head to ask him what was wrong, but he placed a finger to her lips and shot her a grin. "Shh. I'm gonna have bit of fun with her." He said quietly.

He smiled at the sight of Henri and Sarah digging in Henri's garden – it was one thing that Remy was always surprised by from Henri – he just didn't seem like the gardening and landscaping type, but he had developed a love for it. Remy slipped a hand into his trenchcoat and pulled out his cell phone. He flipped it open, and dialed Henri's cell number.

He watched Henri drop his spade and fumble in his pants pocket before answering the phone. "Remy!" He said. "I see you finally replaced your cell phone. Gotta say I'm surprised you're up so early," he teased.

"Yeah, yeah," Remy grumbled. "Decided I'd surprise Sarah with an early call for a changed," he said slyly.

"Alright, I'll put her on," Henri said, and Remy saw him hand the phone to Sarah who had been watching him expectantly.

"Hi Remy," Sarah chirped brightly, settling the phone between her ear and her shoulder so she could use both hands to continue digging.

"Mornin', _petite_, how you been doin'?"

"Good! I went out on the lake again yesterday."

"So, Henri got you workin' hard for him?" He asked, giving Rogue an amused glance.

"Yeah," she said, "I've been helpin' him in his garden."

She set down her spade and grabbed the bush next to the hole and placed it inside. The root bulb stuck up visibly.

"You need to make de hole deeper, _petite_. Otherwise it's gonna die sticking up like dat." He said in a nonchalant tone.

"Oh, sorry, Remy, I -" She said, beginning to nod absently before she froze as she realized what he had said.

"What?" She asked, confused.

"If y'leave de top of de root bulb stickin' up liked dat, de bush you're plantin' won't get enough nutrients t'live very long." He said innocently, and nodded to Rogue as he began walking out of the forest.

"How do-" Sarah began, and looked around wildly. She spotted him, and her face lit up. She dropped the phone next to the plant and took off running toward Remy.

He grinned at her, and knelt down as she closed the distance between them. "Oof-" he managed as she leapt onto him, throwing her arms around his neck. The force knocked him over, and he landed on his back.

"Remy!" She shouted excitedly, burrowing her face in the hollow of his neck. He smiled and hugged her tightly, not even feeling the bones on her face digging into his neck or the bones on her arms and shoulders poking at his arms.

He chuckled as he got his breath back, and reached a hand up to fondly rub the back of her head as she gripped his neck tightly, as if afraid that if she let go he'd leave again.

He moved one arm from around her, and set his hand against the ground, pushing himself up to get his feet under him so he could stand. He stood, and held her tightly, easily carrying her weight in his arms.

He glanced at Rogue who was looking at the two of them with a fond smile. He settled his chin on the top of Sarah's head. "I missed you, _ma mignonne_." He whispered to her.

She finally pulled back a bit and looked up at him with her blue eyes, which sparkled with unshed tears. "I missed you too, Remy. So much. Glad you're finally back," she said, and shyly kissed his cheek.

He grinned at her. "Told ya I'd come an' get you dis week," he said, giving her a wet, sloppy kiss to the forehead.

She crinkled her nose cutely, and reached up with one hand to wipe it away. "Eww. You're messy."

Remy laughed, and shifted her in his arms, and she finally realized he hadn't come alone when she saw Rogue standing nearby. "I'd like you t'meet my friend, Rogue." He said.

"Hi Rogue, I'm Sarah," she said brightly, and Rogue shook her tiny hand, looking amused.

"Nice t'meet yah, Sarah. Remy's told me a lot about yah."

Sarah blushed, and then her eyes widened. "You're Remy's horse lady!" She said excitedly.

Rogue quirked her eyebrow at Remy.

"Yeah, she's my horse lady." He said, his lips twitching with suppressed laughter, and looked up at Rogue. "I was talkin' to her when y'came to get me for our ride," he said in explanation.

Rogue smiled and nodded.

Sarah beamed up at Remy. "Remy said he's gonna teach me to ride horses when we go to the school."

At that point, Henri had made it to them, walking at a much more sedate pace than Sarah. "Didn' 'spect to see you here today, you ol' swamp rat." He said.

His eyes lit up when he saw Rogue standing off to the side. "Well, well, Remy, who's dis _belle fleur_? Dis de _femme _dat invited you to de school?"

Remy shook his head. "_Non_, Henri. Dis is a friend I met at de mansion. Rogue, dis is my _frère_, Henri. Henri, dis is Rogue."

Henri took her hand, and bent over it, his lips brushing the back of it. "D'lighted t'meet you, Rogue."

Rogue noted that he looked nothing like Remy – he was taller, more heavily built, and wore a bushy moustache – and recalled that Remy had told her he'd been adopted into the LeBeau family. "Nice to meet you too, Henri." She said.

Henri smiled and turned back to Remy. "Why don't y'all come in, an' I'll make y' some breakfast."

Remy nodded. "Alright. But den we got to get goin'," he said.

Rogue looked at him in surprise. "We do?" She asked – she'd been expecting she would miss the entire day of school, figuring he'd want to spend the day here.

Remy nodded to her. "Yeah, I'd like t'stay, but I promised Stormy I'd teach de Shop class for her, so I need t'get back dere."

Henri glanced over at him, his eyes wide as they began walking. "Alright, who are you, and what have you done with my brother?"

Remy grinned, and shifted Sarah in his arms for a better grip. "I'm just coverin' for an' absent teacher. But dat ain' all – de Prof dere wants me t'think 'bout teachin' full time next year when dey get a bunch more students."

Henri shook his head in amazement as he led them down toward his house. "Gone for a week an' a half, an' dey start turnin' my brother _respectable_." He said the last word in a mock horror. "Never thought I'd see the day dat Remy LeBeau became a school teacher."

Remy smirked at him as he opened the front door for them. "Look who's talkin', _m'sieu jardinière_."

Remy walked straight to the kitchen. He pulled a chair out for Rogue, who sat in it, blushing slightly at the gesture. As Henri bustled around the kitchen, preparing simple eggs and toast for breakfast, Remy pulled another chair out, and sat down as well.

Sarah shifted, settling easily onto his lap, and changed from holding onto his neck to wrapping her arms around his left arm. He smiled reassuringly down at her, understanding her clinging. "Don', worry, _petite_, I ain' gonna leave you b'hind again." He said softly, and he was rewarded with a beaming smile.

Thirty minutes later, their plates clean, they began to prepare to leave. "Hey, Sarah, why don' you show Rogue your room." He pulled a small duffel bag he'd folded up in one of his trenchcoat pockets. "She c'n help ya pack up all your clothes an' stuff, okay?"

Sarah looked up at him for a moment, and finally nodded, releasing his arm reluctantly, and hopping off of his lap. Rogue smiled at her as she skipped over to her side, and Sarah returned the smile. "C'mon, Rogue. I think Remy just wants to talk with Uncle Henri without me hearin'," she confided, a knowing expression on her face.

Rogue laughed and bent down closer to her. "I think so too," she said, throwing a smirk his way. "Let's just let him think he's won, and go pack your stuff," she said, in a conspiratorial whisper that was loud enough for Remy and Henri to hear.

Sarah grinned, and shyly took Rogue's hand and led her upstairs to her room, leaving Remy to chuckle at them as they left the kitchen. "Looks like I'm gonna get double-teamed from now on," he said to Henri.

Henri nodded knowingly. "So what'd you want to tell me 'bout?" He asked.

Remy quickly explained how he'd seen the man who'd hired him with Graydon Creed. Henri shook his head. "Damn, Remy, when you get into somethin', you don't stop till you're nose deep, do ya?"

Remy nodded ruefully. "Dat seems to be de way it goes wit' me," he agreed.

Henri sighed, and was silent for a moment, and then his expression changed. "So. Dis Rogue – I c'n tell you got de hots for her. You bangin' her yet? Cuz' it sure don' look like you got to de break-her heart stage yet, which wit' you usually follows right after."

"Henri!" Remy protested indignantly, and then lowered his voice. "No, we haven' done anythin'. She's datin' some kid at de mansion. Though between you an' me, she don' seem happy with' him, an' I don' think it'll be lastin' much longer."

He shook his head. "Even den, I don' plan on doin' dat to her."

Henri rolled his eyes. "Dat's what you say wit' all your flings, Remy. Two days later you got a cryin' _femme_, or a red handprint on y'cheek, or both."

Remy looked him in the eye, a serious expression on his face. "Not dis one. Rogue's… diff'rent."

Henri's eyebrows rose. "Really?"

Remy nodded and sighed. "Yeah. I'm fallin' for her, Henri. Dis is real – I can feel it."

Henri looked at him, scrutinizing his face, and then a broad grin broke out. "Damn, Remy, you really are!" He said in surprise.

Remy nodded. "An' other than bein' just as beautiful, she's de complete opposite of Bella."

Henri surprised Remy by pulling him into a bear hug that left Remy seeing stars when it was over. "Happy for you, _frère_. I was worried Bella'd hurt y'too much an' you'd spend y'life like y'have de past few years."

"T'tell de truth, so was I. But I t'ink I'm startin' t'get over it, an' den I met Rogue…." He trailed off, glancing fondly in the direction of Sarah's room.

* * *

Sarah tugged on Rogue's gloved hand, pulling her into the bedroom Henri and Remy had set up for her. Rogue set the duffel bag on her bed, and Sarah moved over to her closet, and began pulling clothes off the hangers. She handed Rogue several shirts. "Could you fold these for me?" She asked shyly.

Rogue smiled. "Sure." She said, and began to fold them neatly. "Yah got a nice room here. Remy get yah all these clothes?"

Sarah nodded proudly. "Yep! He got them the day after he took me here."

Sarah tossed several more shirts in a pile on the bed. "It's nice havin' a girl around," Sarah said. "Remy an' Uncle Henri are nice, but they're also _boys_," she said, crinkling her nose.

Rogue laughed. "Well, there are plenty of girls at the mansion, so you won't have to hang around the boys all the time."

Sarah smiled and began to fold her pairs of shorts and pants, leaving the shirts for Rogue.

"So, are you a mutant too?" Sarah asked. "Remy said that the school is for mutants,"

Rogue nodded. "Yeah, I am."

Sarah's smile dimmed. "My power's not very cool like Remy's is. I just grow all these bones," she said unhappily, gesturing to her face. "I hope your Professor can teach me how to control it so I can look normal." She looked up at Rogue. "What are your powers? Can you blow things up like Remy?"

Rogue shrugged. "Mine aren't very cool either. Ah absorb people's powers when ah touch them, an then Ah can use them for a little bit."

Sarah looked at her dubiously. "That sounds pretty cool. You can have anyone's power!"

Rogue smiled ruefully at her. "It would be, if Ah could control it. Ah can't, so anyone that touches mah skin gets absorbed. It can hurt them if Ah hold on for too long."

"Oh," Sarah said quietly. "I guess that isn't so cool then."

Rogue nodded. "Nope. But Remy's been helping me learn to control it."

Sarah looked up at her curiously as she opened a drawer, and began to pack her underwear and socks into the duffel. "I thought the Professor was helpin' people?" She said, confused.

Rogue nodded. "He is, but we've had trouble with mah powers." She saw Sarah's worried expression and quickly added. "Ah'm sure the Professor'll be able to help yah, Sarah. It's mah mind that's the problem, an' it doesn' want ta help me control mine, so I have to talk it into helpin' out," She said, simplifying the details for the young girl.

"Remy's helpin' me b'cause he had th' same problem when his abilities came out." She concluded.

Sarah nodded thoughtfully. She glanced shyly at Rogue. "Could you use your powers on me? I wanna see them."

Rogue started to shake her head, but then saw the pout, and pleading look that appeared on Sarah's face. "Are yah sure, Sarah?" She asked her doubtfully.

Sarah nodded. "Yeah."

Rogue considered it for a moment and then sighed and hesitantly pulled off one of her gloves. "Don't panic if y'feel somethin'. Ah'll only touch you for a few seconds, b'cause I don't wanna hurt you."

Sarah nodded, and reached out and grabbed her hand. She gasped as she felt a tingling sensation across her body.

Rogue jerked her hand away, and Sarah looked up at her. "That felt weird," Sarah said, crinkling her nose.

Rogue smiled and opened her mouth, when she felt a strange sensation along her arms. She heard the sleeve of her shirt rip, and found herself gazing down at small, bony protrusions poking through. The sensation wasn't painful, it felt odd, almost like her bones were softly grinding together elastically. She felt the skin on her face tighten, and several smaller growths poke out long her forehead.

Sarah stared at her in amazement for a moment. "Now we're twins!" She giggled.

Rogue smiled at her, and glanced into the mirror, and saw that she indeed had nearly identical bone protrusions to what Sarah had. She was shocked when Sarah gave her a firm hug.

"Thank you, Rogue. I don't feel so alone seein' someone that looks like me." She said with a watery smile. "An' I don't feel so ugly anymore."

Rogue's eyes softened, and she pulled her back into the hug. "Yah aren't ugly, Sarah. Ah think you're one of the cutest little girls I've ever seen."

Sarah sniffed into Rogue's shoulder, and then moved her head and smiled up at her. "Remy says that too."

Rogue smiled back down. "Well, Ah guess he can get some things right,"

Sarah giggled, her mind momentarily off of her mutation. "Yeah. He even got up early today. Usually I hafta call him to wake him up."

Rogue smiled, and stuffed the folded shirts into the duffel bag. A few moments later, she felt the same grinding sensation, and looked down to see the growths she'd absorbed from Sarah had disappeared.

Sarah ran to her bathroom, and came back with a toothbrush, a hair brush, and several bottles of shampoo and body wash, which she piled in on top of the clothes. She zipped up the duffel, and smiled to Rogue. "That's it," she said.

"Alright," Rogue said, and shouldered the duffel bag. "Let's go see what Remy's up to."

* * *

Henri looked seriously at Remy. "Got a call from Dan Down yesterday. He suspects y' alive, tried t'get me to confirm it."

Remy sighed, and ran his hands through his hair. "Was thinkin' he might. He'd know I ain' dat easy t'take out." Remy shrugged. "If he calls again, tell him t'keep it quiet. I trust him. Anyway, I was already plannin' on goin' to him de next few days if he's still in New York. I'm gonna need new IDs now, an' he can probably get me a new bike."

Henri nodded. "Okay, Remy." He said, and paused when he heard footsteps down the hall. Sarah and Rogue walked into the room, and Rogue set down the stuffed duffel bag near the door.

"All packed, Remy!" Sarah said excitedly.

He smiled at her. "Good. It's time for us t'get goin'."

She nodded. "Alright!"

She turned, and ran to Henri, and jumped up, giving him a firm hug. "I'll miss ya, Uncle Henri," she said.

Henri grinned down at her. "I'll miss y'too, Sarah. Now I'm gonna hafta work on my garden an' go out on my lake all by myself."

Sarah smiled slyly. "Well you can always do that with that Mercy girl you were talkin' to ev'ry time we went into town."

Henri's mouth dropped open, and Remy laughed loudly. "Oh, what's dis? Henri got hisself a girlfriend?"

Henri shot him a disgruntled look. "Maybe," he muttered. He shot Sarah a mock glare. "Y'better run along now, or I'll hafta toss y'in de lake for dat." He said, before breaking into a smile.

Sarah giggled, and ran behind Remy, clutching his trenchcoat. Remy smiled, and shook Henri's hand firmly. "Keep in touch, _frère_, I'll let you know how things are goin'."

"See y'Remy. Try not t'get into trouble anymore." Henri turned to Rogue. "Rogue, take care of dis bullet magnet for me, _hein_?" He said, gesturing to Remy.

Rogue laughed and nodded to him. "Ah'll try. Nice meetin' yah, Henri."

Remy opened the door, and grabbed Sarah's bag, and gave Henri one last wave before he closed the door behind them. "Alright, _petite_, let's get walkin'. I landed de jet 'bout a mile around from here."

"Jet?" Sarah asked breathlessly.

Remy grinned and nodded. "Didn' I tell y'dat? De school's got its own jet."

Sarah grabbed his arm and began pulling him toward the forest where she'd seen him and Rogue exit. "Let's hurry up then! I've never been flyin' before!"

Remy laughed, and he and Rogue quickly had to break into a run to catch up with her as they entered the forest.

* * *

_**A/N: Hope you all liked it. Next chapter will not have a whole lot of Romy (perhaps only one scene). But we will get to see the arrival at the mansion, and a bit of TeacherRemy. And I think the other events of the chapter will make you guys quite happy even with the lack of Romy (I'm sure you can guess what I'm talking about ;) )**_

_**I wrote and rewrote Remy's heist scenario a few dozen times. They ranged from stealing a sarcophagus with a mummy inside, to breaking into a museum to steal a Picasso piece.**_

_**Real life has also been a bit hectic, but I found some time to pick up the latest issue (#422) of X-men: Legacy comic-book. I snagged it the instant I saw the artwork on the front of Rogue and Remy kissing!**_

_**Well, that's about it, see you next chap, for those that haven't read the comic and don't want it spoiled.**_

_**For those that have read it, or do want it spoiled, read on:**_

_**Warning: Spoilers for the comic issue ahead**_

_**Spoilers**_

_**Spoilers**_

_**Rogue can finally control her powers now (hopefully for good)!**_

_**I'm a bit excited that they used a similar idea to what I had for this story's Rogue to get her powers back – kinda cool to see your ideas show up in the actual comic. And it seems like Rogue and Remy are healing their relationship – hopefully the writers don't break them apart again (getting a little annoyed at that).**_


	12. Chapter 12: Breakup

_**Disclaimer: X-men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway ;)**_

_A/N: Hi all, already back with the next chapter! Sarah makes it to the Institute, Remy teaches, and more. Not a whole lot of Romy, but there are several events I think you'll enjoy, and it sets up for a very big event next chapter (and no, you won't be able weasel hints about it out of me so don't try! ;) ) Enjoy, and please, leave feedback – definitely appreciate all the reviews I get for this fic._

**Chapter 12: Breakup**

* * *

"Wow," Sarah breathed when she caught sight of the sleek black jet. "We're gonna fly in that?"

Remy moved ahead, and lowered the ramp. "Yeah, Sarah. Climb on in."

Sarah raced up the stairs and walked past the leather-upholstered seats. She moved up to the front, and leaned against the arm-rest of the copilot's seat, looking at the complex control panels.

She turned to the side when she heard the thump of the ramp locking in a closed position, and Remy walked past her, scooping her up and settling her on his lap as he sat down in the pilot's seat. Rogue sat once again in the copilot's seat across from them.

Remy reached past Sarah to start the vertical takeoff. Once they'd cleared the trees, he lifted the landing pads and pulled back the thrust lever, causing the jet to pick up forward speed, and he began pulling back on the yoke to climb to a cruising altitude.

Sarah watched his movements in fascination as the jet clawed its way into the air, but finally bored of it, and sat forward on his lap to look out the side windshield. "Everything's so small," she commented in wonder, watching the houses and roads shrink as they got higher.

Remy exchanged a smile with Rogue. "Yeah, we're up really high, _petite_."

He watched her work her jaw for a moment. "Remy, my ears feel funny," she said, looking back at him.

Remy nodded knowingly. "Dat's because way up here de pressure is diff'rent, an' your ears hafta adjust."

Once they leveled out, her ears stopped bothering her, and she sat back, watching the wispy clouds float by as they passed through them. "I like flyin', Remy." Sarah said, quietly.

Remy punched on the autopilot, and moved his arms around her waist, hugging her tightly. "Good."

After over thirty minutes in flight, Sarah began to squirm on Remy's lap, having grown bored with looking out the window. "Can we play cards, Remy?" She asked, looking up at him with wide, pleading eyes.

He grinned at her, and nodded. He carefully stood, and set her back down in his seat, and he walked to the back of the jet and grabbed a heavy-duty tool-box, which he dragged over to the two seats. Rogue pressed the button that extended the table, and Remy sat down on the toolbox in front of it as Sarah and Rogue turned their seats.

A deck of cards appeared effortlessly in his hands, and he shuffled them several times. "Whatcha wanna play, _petite?_"

She smiled happily. "Well, if Rogue wants to play too, we can do Go Fish," Sarah said, looking questioningly at Rogue.

Rogue smiled back. "That sounds fun."

Within moments, Remy had dealt out seven cards to each of them, and spread the remaining cards across the tabletop.

Sarah sorted through her cards, and looked at Remy. "Remy, do you have any threes?"

"Go fish," he said, and laughed when she gave him a pout and reached for the pile of cards.

* * *

Remy slowed the jet as the neared the mansion, and was glad that no one seemed to be outside on the basketball court. He hit the button on the console to open the hangar, and he could hear the warning klaxon just barely over the roar of the engines keeping the jet hovering in place. The huge doors opened slowly, and he let the plane drift until it reached the opening, and then began to ease off on the power, allowing the jet to lower down, and finally settle gently on its landing pads.

He stood up, and began to lower the ramp. As it started to lower, he glanced back at Rogue. "Looks like we got an audience." He said quietly, nodding his head toward several figures entering the hangar bay.

Remy grabbed Sarah's hand, and walked with her down the ramp, Rogue following closely behind them. Ororo and Logan stood near the entrance to the hangar, and he made his way over to them, and gave them a nod of greeting.

"_Bonjour_," he greeted. "How are y'doin'?"

"Y'mean aside from gettin' woken up at three in th'mornin'?" Logan asked dryly.

Remy smiled hesitantly. "Yeah, sorry, 'bout dat. Didn' 'spect y'jet to have so much kick to it or I woulda started slower."

Ororo rolled her eyes. "It wasn't so much that, Remy, as it was the alarm on the basketball court going off," she looked to the young girl gripping Remy's hand tightly. "I assume this is Sarah?"

Remy nodded. "Yeah. Sarah, dis is my friend Stormy, an' de hairy guy over dere is Logan."

Sarah moved partway behind Remy, clutching shyly at his trenchcoat, and waved to each of them.

Ororo walked up to Remy, and bent down, offering her hand to Sarah, who shook it hesitantly. "Hi, Sarah. Welcome to our school. And thanks for being the one that got this lug to finally visit me," she said, swatting at Remy's midsection.

Sarah smiled, and giggled. "Thank you, Storm." She eyed Storm's short, shockingly white hair. "You've got pretty hair," she said shyly.

"Thanks - " Ororo began, smiling, but the conversation was interrupted by the doors to the hangar opening loudly to admit Bobby, and Remy could see Jubilee, Piotr, and others in the hallway.

"Back to steal some more from us, _thief_?" Bobby asked, somewhat venomously, an angry expression on his face as he glanced to Rogue who stood close to Remy.

Sarah's eyes narrowed as she looked around Remy's coat at the boy who had barged into the room. She felt an instant dislike for him – not only had he been rude enough to disrupt what had been, in her opinion, her _very_ important discussion with Storm about her hair, but he was also being nasty to _**her **_Remy.

She was going to say something to him, but at that moment, Remy turned, and bent down to place a hand on her shoulder. "_Petite_, why don't you have Rogue show y'around de school. I'll be along wit' you in a bit, but I got some discussions to have." He said.

She saw him shoot a pleading glance to Rogue, and within moments Rogue had taken her hand. "C'mon, Sarah, let's see if we c'n find the Professor, an' show you around."

Sarah reluctantly released her hold on Remy, and let Rogue lead her toward the exit. Sarah shot one last glare in the rude boy's direction – and was happy when she saw Rogue do the same – before Rogue took her out into the hallway, which was filled with a number of other people.

They had reached a curved set of doors when they opened, revealing an elevator inside. A distinguished-looking older man, with a bald head, moved out of the elevator, directing his wheelchair using controls on the armrest.

He smiled kindly at her, and she looked back at him shyly, gripping Rogue's hand tighter. "Hello there, you must be Sarah," he said, and she nodded.

"Welcome to our school. My name is Professor Xavier."

"Hi. You're the Professor that helps mutants like me?"

Xavier nodded. "Yes, and I can't wait to talk to you more, but I sense a bit of trouble in the hangar that I must go and defuse. Let's talk later today about what schooling you've had, and we can figure out what classes you should be in."

Sarah nodded excitedly. "Okay!"

Xavier laughed softly, and glanced at Rogue who was glancing worriedly back at the room she'd left Remy and Bobby in. "Rogue, could you take Sarah up to the kitchen? I believe Remy has a surprise waiting for her up there," he said.

Rogue nodded absently and led Sarah into the elevator as Xavier began to move toward the hangar.

* * *

As the doors to the hangar closed behind Rogue and Sarah, Remy looked scornfully to Bobby. "'back to steal some more'," he repeated mockingly to Bobby, "What exactly did I steal in de first place, Ice-boy?"

"Our jet!" Bobby said, pointing accusingly at the jet now cooling on the hangar floor.

Remy let out a disbelieving laugh, and looked pointedly at the jet. "If I stole it, den why is it back here? If I really wanted t'steal it, you'd never see it again. An' last I checked, dese jets are for de X-men, an' I b'lieve I'm one of dem now."

"That doesn't mean you can just grab one of our vehicles, and take it God knows where –"

"Louisiana." Remy interrupted calmly.

"Huh?" Bobby said, looking at him in confusion.

"I tol' you where I went. Louisiana." Remy said slowly.

"Whatever. You can't just take our jet, and coerce my girlfriend into going wherever you want to go."

"Ah, an' here we get to de real reason you're pissed. You don' care dat I borrowed de jet – you can't stand Rogue spendin' time wit' me. Here's some news for ya – I didn' make Rogue go wit' me. She followed me, an' den snuck onto de jet all by herself."

"So you got a problem wit' dat, talk t'her 'bout it. Maybe if y'didn' treat her like crap like you been doin' since I got here, an' realized she's her own person an' dat she can make her own decisions, she'd spend more time wit'ya, an' wouldn' sneak onto jets wit' me, an' do whatever else she's done dat's got a crawdad down y'tighty-whities."

He could see in Bobby's eyes that his comments had struck home with him, but Bobby tried to hide it with his angry expression. Remy saw Ororo about to break into the argument, but he shook his head imperceptibly at her. He didn't want her getting pulled into his feud with Bobby.

"Yeah, whatever. You still can't just take our jet whenever you want just because you want to run off on some 'mission' that you made up. They're for important things, not for ferrying thieves on their errands." Bobby said.

"Y'can call me a thief 'till you're blue in de face, Ice_boy_ – you tryin' t'use it as an insult, but it's just a compliment to me. An' as far as usin' de jet for important things to de X-men: I jus' went all de way to Louisiana t'pick up a little ten year old girl who's been abused by her father for bein' a mutant, an' only wants t'be able t'control her powers so she c'n fit in an' not called a freak by all de bigots in dis world." He said heatedly. "If helpin' her ain' exactly what dis school, an' de X-men is about, I don' know what is."

Bobby's mouth worked for a few moments and then snapped shut, unable to come up with a response.

"I must agree." Xavier said from the doorway. "As I said, last night Gambit informed both Ororo and myself that he had made the acquaintance of a young mutant who had trouble controlling her powers, and that he would be bringing her here this week. Logan and Piotr, in fact, knew the basics as well because they helped him set up her room this weekend."

"Bobby, whatever is causing this animosity between yourself and Gambit, you need to deal with it and calm your temper. Gambit is one of **us** now, Bobby."

Bobby threw his hands up in frustration and stalked out the door. Remy heard him mutter something under his breath as he left the room.

Xavier looked to Remy as the doors closed. "Please try not to provoke him, Remy. He's struggling with the reactions of having told his family he is a mutant, on top of his jealousy of your friendship with Rogue and their own changing relationship."

Remy sighed, and let the anger that had built up in the argument leave him. "Y'right, Charles. I'll try m'hardest, but I'd swear dat boy don' need no help gettin' provoked 'bout things."

Logan had watched the argument in silence, and was secretly more impressed by Remy now than he had been even when he'd gotten to know him. Remy had been oddly calm through the argument, and then here he was agreeing he'd try to not provoke Bobby. '_Kid's damn sure handling this better than I did with Scott,_" he thought wryly.

Charles nodded to Remy, pleased with the concession. "Now, about our wake-up call this morning….." He said, smiling at Remy.

Remy looked away, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry 'bout dat. Didn' think it'd be so noisy."

Xavier nodded wryly. "Next time, let us know where you're going beforehand, and more importantly _when_ you're going."

Remy nodded, gently reprimanded. "You got it."

"Good." He said, and appeared satisfied that that part of the discussion was over. "I met your young friend on my way down here. Very nice little girl. I sent her upstairs with Rogue to the kitchen," he said, looking knowingly at Remy, who he knew had asked Sally to surprise Sarah there.

Remy smiled. "Good." He looked more seriously at Xavier. "You think you can help her?"

"I need to spend some time with her to be sure, but from the surface scan of her mind I believe I should be able to. I think she simply had the misfortune of her mutant abilities revealing themselves very early. Her mind was not developed enough to handle them properly and now I think she just needs to work with them as she grows older to gain the correct control over them."

Remy let out a sigh of relief. "I hope so."

He glanced to Ororo and Logan and then back to the Professor. "I'm gonna go check on Sarah, an' den get ready for dat class you wanted me t'cover. Who'm I teachin' by the way?" Remy asked.

Charles smiled. "The shop class today is for the younger students – the same you taught history to, so try to avoid getting too technical with the motorcycle lesson."

Remy nodded. "D'you mind if I bring Sarah along t'meet ev'ryone?"

Xavier shook his head. "Not at all, Remy. I think that would be a good idea. After you are done with the class, perhaps you could bring her by my office so we can discuss what classes to place her in, and I can get a better idea of her mutant abilities."

Remy smiled. "Alrigh' Professor," he said as he walked toward the hangar door.

* * *

Sarah looked around the hallways of the ground floor curiously – she'd never really seen anything so large and majestic. Rogue led her to a wooden door, and pushed it open.

Sarah glanced around, seeing the refrigerator, and realized it must be the kitchen. She froze in midstep when her gaze moved over to the countertop where a blond-haired girl, close in age to Sarah, sat on one of the barstools, swinging her feet idly as she read a book.

"S-Sally?" Sarah asked softly.

The girl looked up, and an enormous smile spread on her face. She slammed her book closed, and hopped off of the barstool, racing over to Sarah. "Sarah!" She exclaimed, pulling her into a rib-crushing hug, her mutation unconsciously forming a force-field along her skin where Sarah's bone-growths jabbed into her.

Sally pulled back. "I thought you were dead," she choked out, tears on her cheeks. "I thought I was the only one that escaped them."

Sarah felt tears come to her own eyes, and she hugged her friend again. "I thought I wasn't gonna make it out," Sarah said. "That man that chased us was gonna kill me, but Remy saved me from him. We heard on their radios that you escaped from them."

Sally nodded, managing a watery smile. "Professor Gambit told me that. He wanted to surprise you so he told me to wait here in the kitchen 'till you came."

Rogue smiled at the two girls – it was quite easy to tell that they had been best friends before the attack on the tunnels, and, she thought sadly, it reminded her of the close friendship she'd had with her sister when she'd been their age.

Rogue quietly moved to sit down at one of the tables, absently watching the two girls catch up, and mulled over the past several hours. Rogue was glad for their time together on the jet, Remy teaching her to play poker, and then trading stories about one another as they played.

And then she'd met Sarah. The way Remy acted around and toward Sarah was so…. adorable, she thought to herself. He was like a big brother who was wrapped around her finger; or even, she mused, almost father-like toward her.

For her part, she could see how he'd bonded with her so quickly. She already felt she had a soft spot for the girl. Sarah was an odd study in contrasts: her bubbly personality was contrasted by her shyness toward others, but it seemed that shyness only extended until Remy introduced her. It seemed to slip away once she knew Remy trusted the person and called them a friend.

She could also see a bit of herself in the young mutant – struggling with her powers, wanting desperately to fit in, rejected by her parents. The memories Rogue had glimpsed when she had touched Sarah briefly came flashing back in her mind.

_She could almost feel the slap from the angry mustached man which sent her flying across a small bedroom as he called her a freak. _

_She could feel the horror as she ran from a hulking brute of a man, glimpsing blood soaked bodies of people she knew lying in the tunnels._

Rogue shook her head, clearing it. From what she'd glimpsed in the memories, she knew Sarah had been through a very traumatic, short life so far, and she hoped Remy, and Xavier's school, could give her the support and love she needed.

Movement near the door of the kitchen caught Rogue's attention, and she saw Bobby striding past, muttering angrily under his breath. She breathed a sigh of relief when from what she saw, he was in one piece. She'd been a bit worried about leaving Remy alone with him, especially after Xavier's comment as she'd taken Sarah upstairs.

She was glad that he hadn't spotted her in the kitchen. From the mood he was in when she'd seen him in the hangar, she knew talking with him would only result in another fight between them. The fact that she'd been avoiding him the past several days wouldn't have helped things either.

She sighed softly, frustrated. She knew, deep down, that things weren't working, but the thought of breaking up with him frightened her. She could very well never have a boyfriend willing to accept her power. '_But I could get the Cure_,' she thought, not for the first time since it had been announced, '_and then I wouldn't have to even think about that_."

She truly didn't know what to do about that. Remy had given her a lot to think about with his comments, and she wanted to make sure that it wouldn't be something she would regret.

She was broken from her internal conflict when a smooth voice came from the kitchen door. "Y'like your surprise, _petite_?" Remy asked, leaning against the doorjamb.

Sarah's head snapped away from her conversation with Sally, and she dashed over to Remy, hugging him tightly. She looked up to him, a pout on her face. "You didn't tell me Sally was gonna be here."

He smiled down at her. "Dat's de surprise part," he said cheekily to her.

Sally stepped up next to Sarah, and Rogue stood from the table, making her way over to him, her eyes running over him. "Yah alright, Remy?"

Remy smiled at her concern. "Yeah Rogue. Iceboy an' I had a little argument an' den he ran off. Got a bit of scoldin' from de Prof, 'bout avoiding flyin' in de middle of de night, but dat was about it."

Remy glanced down at Sarah. "Alrigh', _petite_, let's show y'to your room, _hein_?"

"Alright!" Sarah said excitedly.

Sally smiled at her. "I've gotta go to class now."

Sarah's expression dimmed for a moment. "Okay, Sally. I'll see you later."

As Sally left the room, Remy reached down and grabbed Sarah's hand, and looked back toward Rogue. "You goin' t'come wit' us?"

Rogue smiled fondly at them. "Ah'll ride up with yah, but Ah was gonna go take a shower in mah room."

They took the elevator to the third floor, and walked down the hall. Rogue broke off, opening the door to her room. "Ah'll se yah two later," she said.

"Bye Rogue," Sarah called back as she and Remy continued down the hallway.

"Dat's my room here," Remy said to Sarah as they walked past it, tapping slightly on the door with his knuckles. He stopped two doors down from his own, and opened the door.

The room was around the same size as his, and had a similar layout, but he'd decorated the room similar to the way he'd let Sarah decorate her room at Henri's. The bedspread was a cerulean blue – Sarah's favorite color - and the towels in the bathroom were a similar hue.

He smiled as he watched Sarah's face light up when she saw the room. She moved in slowly, looking at the large room in wonder – it was close to twice the size of Henri's guest room, and had one of the most enormous beds she'd ever seen. The drapes on the far side of the room were open, and she realized they were in front of a patio door that led out onto a balcony.

"Wow, Remy, I love it!" She exclaimed, walking over to run her hand over the soft bedspread.

He grinned down at her. "Good. I decorated it wit' some of de others here. I'll let you get unpacked. I gotta change an' get ready to teach. I'm teachin' de younger kids, an' de Professor said you can come along too if y'want, get t'know some more kids your age."

Sarah's eyes lit up. "Okay, Remy! I can't wait! I really liked it when you taught me French." She said softly.

Remy smiled broadly. "I'll come get y'when I head downstairs."

* * *

Sarah gripped Remy's hand as the entered a door past a room filled with computers, and walked down a hall, into an enormous garage filled with a number of vehicles. Six others were there already for the class. She relaxed slightly when she noted that one of them, a young girl, had catlike features – pointed ears, a furry appearance, and even a long tail extending from the seat of her pants – she was truly among others who struggled with their mutations when they became visible, and it made her feel like she was back at home in the tunnels.

More students made their way into the garage, all of them excited for another class from Remy, and all looking curiously at Sarah. Finally, when the last person entered, Remy leaned back against a support beam in the garage, and greeted them.

"Alright, y'all. Looks like we're gonna be seein' a lot more of each other de next few weeks. I'm gonna be takin' over for all of Pr'fessor Summers' classes while he's gone."

He placed a hand on Sarah's shoulder. "I'd like you t'meet Sarah. She's gonna be a new student here, an' probably goin' to be in de same classes as you all." Sarah waved shyly to the other students.

Remy leaned forward. "Okay, today we're gonna be talkin' bout motorcycles. How many of y'here have ridden one wit' y'parents or someone y'know b'fore?"

Sarah's hand shot up proudly as she remembered the long ride on the back of Remy's bike down to Louisiana. Other than her, only Rahne raised her hand.

Remy nodded. "Dat's 'bout what I expected with y'all bein' as young as you are. If y'ever get a chance to do it, make sure you give it a try."

He turned and gestured to a Harley Low-Rider that sat in the middle of the garage. "A motorcycle is similar to a car in a few ways. 'Sgot an engine and wheels an' all dat. But dere are a lot of diff'rences. De parts are a lot smaller, an' keepin' it maintained is a lot more important b'cause it's all dat's between you an' a spill on de highway."

"Today, I'm just gonna show you de main parts of it, an' how t'check dem out. I'll try not t'get too technical for ya."

He walked over to the bike and patted the wheel. "Let's talk 'bout tires. Dese are even more important den in a car, 'cuz if one of dese suddenly goes flat, you'll most likely wipe out."

He glanced around the faces of the students who were looking on with interest. "Did Scott ever show y'all how t'check out tires?"

A girl in the back – the catlike one Sarah had noticed earlier – raised her hand. "Yes, Maria?"

"Um, he showed us how to use one of those gauges to check the air in a car tire, but that was about all."

Remy nodded. "Alright den, gather 'round an' I'll show you some more."

The students squeezed in closer, and he rolled the bike forward. "When y'lookin' at de tires, you ain' just seein' how much pressure dey've got, y'look for little bits of glass or nails at you might have picked up while y'drove, because if y'keep drivin', you might hit it just right an' it'll go through de tire."

"De other t'ing to look for is for crackin' or bulgin', which c'n happen in older tires. De rubber gets weaker as dey age, and starts crackin'."

He pointed to a spot on the wheel, and they all leaned in closely to peer at it. "Dis tire has a bit of crackin' here, an' it looks like de bike isn't used much or maintained very often. I'd definitely change dis tire before I ever rode dis bike." He said seriously.

He moved to the side of the bike, and crouched down, pointing to the chain. "De other important part of a motorcycle is dis chain. Y'all have seen a bicycle chain, an' how it makes de wheels move?" The entire class nodded. "Well dis is de same sort of thing, 'cept it de motor runs it 'stead of you pedalin'."

"You got to make sure you keep dis clean, an keep it lubricated so it keeps turnin' real smooth. You also hafta check all de links to make sure dey're not damaged, 'cuz if dis breaks while you're ridin', it could really hurt someone when it flies off."

Rahne raised her hand. "What do you use to clean it?"

Remy smiled at her. "Good question, Rahne. First, I usually just take out an ol' toothbrush I don' use anymore, and scrub all de dirt an' grease off de chain. After dat, dere's some special motorcycle chain lubricants y'can get to spray on de chain."

Then he grinned at the students. "Finally, y'got t'make sure y'keep dat toothbrush in de garage, b'cause y'never want t'accidentally put it in your mouth after y'use it on de chain."

The rest of the class flew by when Rahne asked him to show them the engine, and he spent the rest of the time doing that. He finally replaced the cover over the engine, and wiped his dirty hands on an already dirty towel, and dismissed the class.

"See you guys later," he called after them.

Sarah walked up to him, and handed him a cleaner rag she'd spotted near a workbench. "So what'd y'think, _petite_?" He asked.

"You're a really good teacher, Remy. I could tell everyone else really liked the way you taught us."

"Well, dat's good. I tried t'make it not too borin' for you guys." He finished wiping his hands clean, and tossed the rag back onto the worktable. "Alrigh' _petite_, Professor Xavier wanted t'meet wit' you after class, an' den after dat I thought I could give you a little tour 'round de mansion so you won' get lost."

"Alright, Remy," Sarah said happily, grabbing his hand and skipping along next to him as he led her out of the garage and toward Xavier's office.

* * *

Rogue sat reading a book in the living room later that evening – while Remy gave Sarah a short tour of the school – with Jubilee, Dani, and a number of the younger students, gathered around the television.

The Fox 5 Evening News was on, the weather forecast playing across the screen. As the cameras went back to the main desk, Rogue's attention was drawn to the screen when the banner across the bottom changed to announce their coverage of the Cure.

A young reporter, who looked like he was barely out of college, stood in front of a large public health clinic. A line of people stood outside waiting in a long line, as they were admitted one by one past two security guards.. Among them, a large number had visible mutations, from scales, to fur, to one hulking person who appeared to be made of stone.

To the left of the line, a group of protestors was visible, holding up large signs. The reporter put a microphone to his mouth_. "I'm here in New York City at one of the many clinics across the country that are administering the Mutant Cure produced by Worthington Labs."_

_"The clinics received their shipments of Cure doses this morning, and since then each clinic has been flooded by mutants wishing to take it. We talked to one mutant who took the cure earlier this morning."_

_The scene switched to a brightly lit afternoon, where the same reporter stood next to a brown haired woman whose face they'd blurred. "How do you feel now that you've taken the cure?" He asked her._

_She replied with a shaky voice, clearly trying not to cry. "Amazing. It's so relieving to be…. normal. When I became a mutant, everyone shunned me. Horns grew out of my head, and my skin turned blue. I couldn't go anywhere without people looking at me or ridiculing me. I've been attacked several times by mutant-haters."_

_"And now…. I look like everyone else. Someone on the actually smiled at me on my way to the interview. It's a dream come true. I think a lot of mutants who have visible mutations like I did will be taking the Cure, just to stop the discrimination against them."_

_"Thank you for sharing your story with us," the reporter said. "One final question, and something of much debate since the Cure was announced: do you still consider yourself a mutant, having taken the cure?"_

_The woman sighed. "No. I think deep down I'll always carry my experiences as a mutant with me, but I don't consider myself a mutant anymore."_

_The picture moved back to the live feed. "Of course, there are many mutants who refuse to take the Cure, and are protesting against it," he said as the camera scrolled over the large group of protestors outside the clinic behind several barricades that kept them apart from the line into the clinic._

_"One of the protestors granted us an interview this morning."_

_The picture changed once again to a young man who looked close in age to Rogue. His ears were sharply pointed, and long, wolf-like fangs were visible in his mouth as he talked. "This 'cure', is nothing more than a way for mutant haters to discriminate against us more. They think evolution can be "cured". I'm sure the early Neanderthals had similar thoughts about Homo Sapiens. The fact is, we – Homo Sapiens Superior – are the future of the human race, and these bigots want to try to destroy the very part of our DNA that has evolved using this Cure." _

"_And this cure is only the start. The Nazis had something that they called the 'Final Solution', and when you think about it, that's just another word for 'Cure'. Next thing you know they'll be tossing us into work camps and after that they'll start exterminating those who refuse to take the cure."_

_The reporter looked a little troubled by the direction the discussion had moved, so he asked another question. "All these mutants behind us are lining up to take this cure, and are relieved to get it. What would your opinion be on them?"_

_The man scowled. "They're *bleep* cowards is what they are. No mutant who even has a bit of a backbone would take this. They're too afraid to face reality and have to reduce themselves to humans to 'fit in'."_

_The scene shifted once more to the live feed. The man stood there for a minute as he got a cue in his earpiece, and began speaking. "The protests have thus far remained non-violent, but there have been several threats from radical mutant groups issued recently."_

_"The cure, was announced this Monday when it received approval from the FDA for distribution. For those interested, there are three clinics in the state of New York administering the cure. Hope Clinic in Albany, John Edwin Clinic in downtown New York, and Washington Health Care Clinic in the city of Mount Vernon, near the Bronx."_

* * *

Rogue cracked her eyes open blearily as a sound on the roof pulled her from her sleep. She heard it again, and smiled to herself when she realized it was Remy once again walking on the roof.

She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and sat up in bed, yawning. She turned, and set her feet on the floor, standing up slowly. She grabbed a light jacket, intending to join him on the roof.

As she walked toward her balcony, she heard a soft knock on her door. '_If Remy's on the roof, who could that be_?' she wondered to herself, padding softly back across the room.

She opened the door, and saw Sarah standing in the hallway, garbed in a pair of pink and blue pajamas. Sarah, who had been glancing down the hall snapped her head back to the front as Rogue opened the door.

"Sarah, what's wrong?" Rogue asked in concern when she saw the tear tracks on the young girl's cheeks.

Sarah threw her arms around her and sobbed. "I had a bad dream." She mumbled into Rogue's shirt.

Rogue rubbed the back of her head comfortingly, glad that she'd slid on gloves as she got ready to go onto the roof. "It's alright, sweetie," Rogue whispered. "It's over now."

"Tell me what it was about, Sarah. Ah always feel better talkin' about mah dreams."

"It was- I was down in the tunnels, but the man that attacked me hurt Remy, an' I couldn't get him to wake up." She said, sobbing.

"Oh, Sarah," Rogue said softly, looking down at the shaking girl. "It was jus' a dream. Remy's fine."

Sarah shook her head frantically. "No, he's not in his room. I looked for him and he's not in there. An' then I remembered where your room was."

Rogue pulled back and placed her hands on Sarah's shoulders, and looked her in the eye. "Sarah. Sarah! Remy's fine. Ah just heard him walkin' on the roof a minute ago. He goes out there when he wants ta think."

Sarah sniffled, and wiped at her nose, looking at Rogue hopefully. "R-really?"

Rogue smiled. "Yeah. Yah must've just missed him. Want me t'get him for yah?"

Sarah smiled shyly and nodded. "Yeah."

Rogue pulled back, and walked toward her balcony door. She once again found herself balancing precariously on the railing, pulling herself up enough to see Remy sitting in the same place he had been the last time she'd been up there.

"Remy," she called out, and he looked over to her, a smile growing on his face.

"Come t'join me, _Chére_?" He called back.

Rogue shook her head. "Ah was gonna, but Sarah came t'mah room. She had a bad dream, an' was scared when she couldn' find yah in your room."

He looked up with concern evident on his face. "She down dere wit' you?"

Rogue nodded, and began climbing back down when she saw him stand. As she stepped down onto the firm ground of her balcony, a sudden noise to her left caused her to jump in fright.

She spun, and came face to face with Remy who'd already jumped down next to her. "Damnit, Remy, don't do that to me!" She said, pressing a hand over her chest.

He gave her a soft smile. "Sorry _Chére_, dat's de fastest way down."

He walked through the door to Rogue's room, and was greeted almost instantly by Sarah leaping into his arms. "Shhh, _petite_, it's alright." He said as she gripped him tightly.

As her shaking subsided, he picked her up in his arms. "C'mon, Sarah, let's let Rogue go back t'sleep." He said, glancing over to Rogue with a grateful look on his face.

Sarah nodded into his chest, and then poked her head up over his shoulder to give Rogue a smile. "G'night, Rogue. Thanks."

Remy carried Sarah out into the hallway, and began to close the door. He poked his head in once through the gap. "G'night, _Chére_. Mebbe another night," he said, shooting her a dashing grin that made her blush, and only able to nod mutely as he closed the door the rest of the way.

Remy carried Sarah back down the hallway to her room, and placed her on her bed. He pulled the covers back over her, and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Go back t'sleep, _petite_." He said softly.

Sarah grabbed his hand, preventing him from moving toward the door. "Remy, could you stay with me tonight?" She asked hesitantly.

Remy smiled gently at her and nodded. "Scoot on over."

She squirmed until there was room for him on the bed, and he sat next to her, leaning back against the headboard, and she snuggled in close to him, closing her eyes. He stroked her hair soothingly, and smiled to himself as her breathing evened out. He closed his own eyes, laying his head back against the wooden headboard, and felt himself drift slowly to sleep.

* * *

Remy woke the next morning to find Sarah still snuggled against him, looking up at him with a smile. "Mornin', _petite_," he grunted, rubbing at the crick in his neck that had formed during the night from the position he'd slept in.

"Good morning, Remy," Sarah said brightly. "Thanks for stayin' here with me. I didn't have any more bad dreams."

He smiled down at her and mussed up her hair with his hand. "Dat's good, _petite_. Sorry I gave y' a scare last night."

"That's alright, Remy. What were you doin' on the roof, though?" She asked curiously.

Remy sat up further. "Thinkin'. I had a bad dream last night too, an' sittin' on de roof helps me clear my head."

Remy finally stood up and stretched. "Get dressed, _petite_, an' I'll make y'some breakfast, okay? Knock on my door when you're ready.

"Alright, Remy," Sarah said, jumping out of bed and padding over to the dresser and pulling out some clothes as he left the room.

By the time Remy started cooking breakfast, Rogue and Ororo had arrived in the kitchen, and he began cooking extra for them. He finally set the four plates down in front of them, each covered with eggs, toast, and bacon that he'd picked up when he had been in town and frozen when he got back.

The previous day, Sarah had met with Xavier, and they'd talked for several hours about how much schooling she'd received. He'd decided to place her in classes with Sally, but have tutoring available to her in some subjects like math and English which she was a bit behind in from her time in the Tunnels.

As they finished, Remy cleared his throat, causing the three of them to look up. "Stormy, I'm gonna be gone most of de day today, an' I was hopin' you could watch Sarah for me when she's not in her new classes." He said hopefully.

Ororo nodded, and shot a smile at Sarah. "Sure, Remy."

"Where are you going?" Sarah asked worriedly.

"Into New York City. I'm gonna catch up with an ol' friend of mine."

Ororo frowned. "Remy, you told me that-"

He raised a hand, cutting her off. "Not for anythin' like dat. I'm just meetin' him to talk. He was callin' Henri an' doesn't believe I'm dead like ev'ryone else does. 'Sides, he'll be able t'hook me up wit' a new bike."

Ororo's frown softened a bit. She knew how much he loved his motorcycles. "Well, just be careful."

"Have a good trip," Rogue said quietly, as she finished off her breakfast. "I'd offer t'come with yah, but Ah've got class."

Rogue and Ororo both thanked him for making breakfast, and excused themselves to get ready for the school day. Minutes later, only Remy and Sarah remained in the kitchen. "You better get ready for class too, Sarah. My taxi's gonna be here any minute now."

Sarah nodded, and grabbed his hand, looking up at him seriously. "You're comin' back, right?" She asked.

Remy smiled, and leaned down to kiss her cheek. "Always," he whispered into her ear.

She giggled as his breath tickled her hair, and hugged him tightly. "Good."

He stepped back, and tickled her sides. "Now get goin' or you're gonna miss y'first real class. Should be back by dinner time. I'll pick us somet'ing up on de way home."

Sarah squirmed away from his tickling fingers, giggling, and then put on her most mature face, crossing her arms over her chest. "You better be careful, like Storm told you to." She said, before marching out of the room.

He chuckled as she left, and cleared up the dishes before sliding on his trenchcoat and walking out the front door to a waiting cab. It would be a bit expensive for a ride all the way to the City, but he planned on having his own bike for the ride back, and he couldn't exactly do that if he took one of the mansion's vehicles to get there.

He slid into the back seat, and slipped the cab driver a 50. "Thanks for pickin' me up so fast, _mon ami_. I'm headed to downtown New York."

* * *

The grizzled old African American man stepped out of the pawn shop – one of many similar looking store-fronts along the crowded block – to the usual sound of heavy traffic, horns honking, and people talking loudly on their cell phones as they walked down the crowded sidewalks. He began to lock the door behind him as he left for lunch, when a smooth, accented voice sounded from behind him. "Fancy meetin' you here, Dan."

Dan Down spun quickly and found himself looking into a pair of red-on-black eyes. A broad grin broke out on his face, and he grabbed the owner of those eyes into a bear hug. "Remy! You ol' thief! Nearly gave me a heart attack there."

"S'good to see you again, Dan."

Dan released him, and opened the door, gesturing to Remy. "Well don' just stand there, Cajun, come on in!"

Remy nodded his thanks and entered the small pawn shop. The shelves were littered with electronics, jewelry, coins, and various other items for sale. Dan moved into the store, turning the lock on the door, having already turned the "Closed" sign.

Remy glanced around, mentally casing the place, working out what each item could go for. He nodded to Dan, looking impressed. "Looks like you're doin' pretty well up here, Dan."

Dan barked out a laugh. "I shoah am. People here in the city like buyin' an' sellin' heck of a lot more than down in N'Awlins."

Dan had grown up in the Big Easy – his parents and their parents had lived their all their lives, and his great grandparents had been slaves on one of Louisiana's many plantations. He'd met Remy years ago, when he first started his assignments for the Thieves Guild, and they'd become good friends.

Dan pulled out two camping-chairs from behind the counter, and sat down in one, offering the other to Remy. "I knew you wasn't dead, Remy." He said as Remy sat down. "Ev'ryone was sayin' it, but I knew you ain't that easy to kill."

Remy grinned. "I know. Henri told me you've been pesterin' him, so I decided to come visit." He paused, and sighed heavily. "Dis time it was pretty close though. If I hadn't been wearin' my vest I'd be dead right now. As it is, I had t'hide in a river 'till de shooter left."

Dan nodded. "I heard Boudreaux was braggin' about puttin' you in the drink."

Remy's expression darkened. "Boudreaux?" He demanded, looking shaken. "Was it-"

Dan shook his head. "No, it wasn' Bella. It was Émile. Guess he jumped at the chance to take you out soon as he heard 'bout the contract. Hates you for what happened with Julien."

Remy sighed and shook his head. "I'd thought he did. Didn' expect him t'go dis far though. Guess in a way I'm lucky it was him – only been wit' de Assasin's guild for a few years now. If it'd been someone more experienced, I might've not gotten so lucky."

Remy glanced up. "You still been takin' care of my apartment?"

Dan clutched his chest in mock pain. "Why, Remy LeBeau, it hurts that y'even have t'ask me. 'Course I been takin' care of it. Drop by once a week t'water your plants and pick up your mail. Not that you use the place more'n once or twice a year," he groused.

Remy smiled. "Thanks, Dan. An' I might be usin' it more often now. I'm stayin' at a place upstate wit' some friends."

Dan's face lit up. "Well, make sure you come visit me more often now. It's always nice t'see a friendly face from my Louisiana days." He settled back in his chair. "So, other than comin' here to shoot the shit wit' me, I'm sure you got somethin' you want, so spit it out."

Remy chuckled. "You know me too well, you ol' rummy. I need a new bike. Lost de other one in de river."

Dan winced. "Shit, Remy. That was a nice one. But I c'n get one for ya, if you're gonna be 'round for a few hours. Anythin' else?"

"New ID. Can't go 'round usin' my old aliases without someone findin' out I'm still around. Need a driver's license, motorcycle license, passport – de usual."

Dan grinned. "That won't be a problem. I been gettin' used to you needin' that, so I already got some set up for ya."

He stood up. "Let's go get some lunch an' stop at my place an' I'll grab those for you, an' call someone 'bout gettin' you a bike."

Remy stood up as well, and followed him out of the store, and down the short walk to a small diner on the corner of the block.

* * *

Rogue walked slowly away from Bobby's bedroom. He hadn't been in it, so she figured he would likely be downstairs.

She'd thought it through that morning, as she tried to fall asleep after Sarah's visit to her room, and had decided it was time she stopped this avoiding game they'd been playing, and to clear the air, and see if he truly wanted to make things work between them.

She reached the bottom floor, and glanced in the kitchen and the living room, but she only saw a few other students. She walked past the library and computer lab, and was about to give up on the search and try to find him at lunchtime, when she thought she heard his voice further down the hall coming from one of the empty classrooms.

She walked down toward it, curious as to what he was doing in there. The door was open slightly, and she could hear a rustling of clothes inside. She placed her hand on the door and was about to push it open. Then she froze, numb with shock, at the scene visible through the narrow gap.

Kitty was sitting on one of the desks, and Bobby was standing and leaning over her, their lips locked together in a passionate kiss. Books lay strewn around the desk, making it clear they had been in here studying earlier, before their present "activities".

Rogue felt her heart being ripped apart as she watched Kitty – her flushed face turning to the side as she responded to the kiss. Rogue wanted desperately to look away, but it was like watching a horrible car accident – as much as you want to, you just can't look away.

Kitty's hands suddenly came up, and she pushed Bobby away, gasping heavily for breath. "B-Bobby!" She said, stuttering slightly. "I-I…. what was that for?"

Bobby had already regained his breath, and leaned back in closer to her. "I've wanted to do that for days now, and I couldn't stop myself anymore." He said in a low voice, bending his head back down toward hers.

Kitty placed a hand on the side of his face and gently pushed him back. "But Bobby, what about Rogue? Did you break up with her?"

Bobby looked away. "No, but I can't keep it going between us anymore," he said quietly.

Kitty's hand rubbed Bobby's cheek, and Rogue felt almost nauseous, seeing them together, touching skin to skin in a way she was unable to. "Tell her. Until then, none of this, Bobby. Rogue's my friend. I won't cheat on her like that. I want this – between us – to happen, but not behind Rogue's back."

Bobby closed his eyes and sighed. "Alright. I'll do it today," he acquiesced.

He pulled back, and sat in the chair in front of Kitty. "I really thought I could handle it. The no-touching, the absorbing, all of it."

He shook his head. "But I can't. I don't think anyone could for much longer I have."

Kitty nodded knowingly. "I don't blame you. It really sucks for her, though. You can move on, but it'll be so hard for her to find someone."

Bobby sighed. "I know. I think that if she doesn't learn control over her powers, she's never going to have a relationship that lasts. People just can't handle that sort of thing for long. She'll never find anyone that can accept the no-touching for long."

* * *

Rogue slowly removed her hand from the door, and quietly walked away from the room, away from Bobby, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Ah guess Ah have mah answer," she muttered bitterly to herself, striding up the stairs.

She walked past Remy's room, only too aware that he wasn't there for her to talk to, and she made it to her room without running into anyone. Once inside, she whirled and slammed her fist angrily into her door. The next moment she cursed silently at her temper as she nursed her bruised knuckles, and collapsed numbly onto her bed.

Part of her couldn't believe Bobby had been putting the moves on Kitty, all the while stringing her along while already planning on dumping her. The rest of her told her it didn't really matter. Bobby didn't matter anymore. Their relationship was dead and done with, and she was alone. And there was nothing she could do about it. She felt so empty inside, seeing them together, confirming the end of the relationship in graphic detail for her.

She choked back a sob as she remembered Bobby's reasoning, and put her face in her hands. "He's right," she whispered. "Ah'll never find anyone like this."

She sat there for several minutes, as her tears slowed, her mind racing. She finally stood up – a determined expression set on her face – and walked to her closet, pulling out a light coat and a small duffel bag and then pulled out her cellphone.

She walked out of her room half an hour later, her bag over her shoulder. She nearly made it to the elevator before she was greeted by Piotr exiting his room. "Hey Rogue, have you seen Kitty?"

Rogue's mouth set in a firm line. "Probably still swappin' spit with Bobby," she said bitterly, and then regretted it when she realized what she'd seen would hurt Piotr as well.

She turned her head toward him. "Ah'm sorry, Piotr, Ah didn't mean t'snap at yah like that. It's just. Ah saw Bobby kissin' her a bit ago, tellin' her he was gonna break up with me t'be with her, an' Ah've been in a bad mood."

She felt sorry for him when his face fell noticeably at the news. "Oh. Well, thanks for telling me. I'm sorry about you and Bobby. I'd hoped things would work out between you."

Rogue shrugged. "Thanks, Piotr. Sorry 'bout Kitty, Ah know yah liked her."

Piotr blushed lightly and nodded, looking at her in surprise, and then noticed the duffel bag on her shoulder. His brows furrowed. "Are you going somewhere, Rogue?"

Rogue looked down and nodded. "Mount Vernon."

Piotr's eyes widened – he too had heard the announcement the previous day. "You're getting the Cure?"

Rogue looked around and lowered her voice. "Yeah. Ah can't handle it anymore. This power nearly killed mah first boyfriend, an' it's lost me mah second already. Ah'll never have a relationship that lasts, 'long as Ah have it." She looked at him pleadingly. "Please, don' try t'stop me, Piotr."

He looked at her, carefully examining her face. "I won't, Rogue. It's your choice, and I understand why you'd want to do it."

Rogue smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Thanks, Piotr. An' if you could keep it quiet for a while, Ah'd appreciate it."

"Of course," he said, smiling warmly at her. "Are- Are you going to come back after….?" He asked, trailing off.

Rogue nodded. "Ah'm plannin' to."

"Good. I'll see you later then," he said as she stepped into the elevator. "Good luck, Rogue," he called as the door slid shut.

The elevator dropped to the main floor, and Rogue slipped out the front door, unnoticed, and walked down the drive to the yellow cab she'd called for. She sat down in the back, and settled her bag on her lap. "Mount Vernon, please."

"You got it, ma'm," the young driver said with a thick Brooklyn accent, and started up the vehicle, and Rogue stared blankly out the window as the mansion faded into the distance.

* * *

_**A/N: Hey everyone, hope you liked it! Well, there's the breakup (although Bobby doesn't really know about it yet so I guess you could say it's the first part of the breakup).**_

_**I had a lot of time this week, and this chapter seemed to just pour right out onto the page without much trouble. IT was a little longer than I'd actually planned, but the whole "Sarah's Bad Dream" part sort of popped up out of nowhere and slid neatly into the chapter. Love it when my muse is working overtime. :)**_

_**Thanks for all the reviews/feedback last chap. Next chapter we find out about Rogue – will she take the cure? A bit more Romy next chap if things go as planned.**_


	13. Chapter 13: Overload

_**Disclaimer: X-men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway ;)**_

_A/N: Boy, I am really spoiling you guys - Three chapters (~30,000 words) in a two week period! My muse was working overtime, and much of this chapter was already written in my head, so I figured I'd give you all a 4th of July present/surprise. :)_

_Thanks for all the feedback last chap, really appreciate it. Without further ado, here is the next chapter:_

**Chapter 13: Overload**

* * *

Remy glanced up as he heard the low rumble of a motorcycle outside. He was waiting in Dan's apartment while he got the things Remy had asked for. They'd eaten lunch, and then Dan had let him into his apartment, and disappeared for several hours to scrounge up a motorcycle. Remy stood up, and walked to the front door of the apartment, and down the stairs to the street.

Dan climbed stiffly off of a motorcycle, and pulled a sleek black helmet from his head. He caught glimpse of Remy walking toward him, and he turned and grinned. "How d'ya like her?" He asked, patting the seat of the bike.

Remy whistled and walked around the bike, examining it closely. "Nice, Dan. '93 FXDL Low Rider," he said, running his eyes over the Harley. "Hardly looks used."

Dan smiled. "Only got 8,000 on her, got bought up by a friend of mine that collects Harleys, an' he's kept her up real well."

Remy patted him on the back. "Thanks Dan," he said gratefully.

Dan handed him the helmet. "This's yours too. Don' want you gittin' shot off your bike again' an' crackin' y'fool head open." Dan said with a chuckle.

Remy grabbed the black helmet, and followed Dan back into the apartment. Dan walked into a back room to a large safe, with a sophisticated electronic lock. Remy recognized it as one with a glass relocker – a pane of glass that would break if someone attempted to drill into it, and release spring loaded bolts around the frame of the safe to keep it locked.

Dan crouched down in front, and shot Remy a stern look – he never told anyone, even his friends, his combinations. Remy chuckled and turned away as Dan pressed in a code, and the safe hissed open.

Dan pulled out a thick manila envelope, and closed the safe once again. "Here y'go, all the usual, an' even some extra I cooked up the last year I been doin' this."

Remy took the envelope, and flipped it open, rummaging through the ID's. Driver's license, motorcycle license, passport from both the US and Canada, birth certificate, every form of ID Remy could have a need for. Remy stopped at a thick black ID that looked similar in size and shape to a passport.

He pulled it out. "Now what's dis?" He muttered, and then his eyes widened. "Now dis could come in handy!" He exclaimed.

Dan nodded, laughing. "I'm sure it will. Jus' be careful wit' who you use it 'round."

Remy nodded in understanding, and slipped it back into the envelope. "Thanks, Dan, for ev'rythin'. I'd hang 'round wit' you more but I gotta get back."

"Alrigh' Remy, but don' be a stranger."

Remy shook his hand, slipping a large portion of the money he'd received for the tunnel job, into Dan's palm. "Take care of y'self Dan."

Dan looked down at it, and shook his head. "Remy, I ain't chargin' you for this. 'Sides, this's over twice what I paid for the bike. I ain' gonna let y'pay me. This is a favor." He said, pressing the money back into Remy's hand.

Remy rolled his yes. "If y'say so, Dan. Just tryin' t'help you out."

Dan clapped a hand on Remy's back. "Y'said yourself, I'm doin' good wit' my store. Don' worry 'bout me."

Remy smiled, and grabbed the helmet from the table. "Alrigh', Dan, you win. I'll see y'around."

Dan opened the door for him, and then walked to the window to watched his friend rev up the bike and take off down the road. He sighed, glad that his instincts about Remy surviving had been right.

He slung his hands in his pockets, and encountered an unfamiliar object in one of them. He pulled it out, and chuckled softly to himself. "I shoulda figured he was givin' up too easy." He said out loud, looking down at the same wad of hundreds Remy had tried to give him just moments ago, shaking his head at the young thief.

* * *

Rogue leaned her forehead against the cool glass window of the taxi, staring blankly out the window with the events of the past several hours on her mind. A passing billboard for an outdoors outfitter, showing two horses running through a forest brought Remy to the front of her mind when she remembered their ride in the forest.

She absently rubbed her hand, which started to tingle, remembering Remy's touch that first session they'd worked on her powers. '_Remy,_', she thought longingly, closing her eyes. She wished he had been there for her to talk to, but he was gone the entire day. When she thought about it, he was the only person, apart from Logan, who was completely unphased by, unafraid of, her powers.

'_Is Bobby wrong?_', she wondered. Remy certainly did not seem bothered at all by the idea that it could take her years to get her abilities under control.

His words in the danger room as they talked about the cure came to her.

"_**I do wan' you t'think carefully before y'do anythin'."**_

"_**Sometimes we only realize de t'ings we're missin' when dey're gone."**_

Sarah didn't seem all that worried about her powers either. In fact she had been downright happy when Rogue used them on her and developed the same bony growths she had. '_I guess it might not be all that bad_,' She thought, somewhat dubiously to herself, and closed her eyes tightly.

'_What would Remy do_?' She wondered to herself.

'_He'd tell you to make sure the Cure is what you really want, and ask you if you really think you can't handle just getting it under control,'_' Psyche-Logan inside of her whispered in her mind. '_I'd tell you th'same. An' tell ya I think you're strong enough.'_

A tear ran down Rogue's cheek. She usually hated it when the psyches she'd absorbed acted up and started whispering to her, especially when it was someone like Magneto, but this time it was just what she needed to hear – something to make her think.

"Are you alright, Miss?" A voice asked, startling her.

She jumped and her eyes flew open to see the cab driver looking at her in the rear-view mirror, a hint of concern on his face. She nodded and forced a weak smile, wiping away the tear on her cheek. "Yeah, Ah'm just thinkin'."

"About the Cure?" He asked.

She looked at him in shock, tensing up. "How-?"

He looked over his shoulder and threw her a smile. "Recognized the address you told me a bit ago. I've been taking mutants down there all day."

She nodded hesitantly. "Are we gettin' close?"

"Yeah. Clinic's up this road about two miles."

"Could you drop me off here, please? Ah need some time ta think about…." She trailed off.

He nodded and pulled the taxi to the side of the road, in front of a long block of stores. "I gotcha. Here you go."

"Thanks," Rogue said, and glanced at the number displayed on the meter, and pulled the money from her wallet. She handed it to him, and then opened the door to climb out of the taxi.

"Have a good day miss," he called.

"You too," Rogue said, and closed the door behind her.

Rogue watched the taxi speed away, and slung her bag over her shoulder. While she'd told Peter she'd be coming back, in reality at the time she hadn't been too sure about it, about facing everyone having taken the cure, and had packed several changes of clothes in the bag in case she'd decided to stay away for a few days until she was ready to face them.

She hugged her arms around her chest, and walked slowly down the street, trying to make up her mind. She felt her phone buzz in her pocket, and she took it out, flipping it open to look at the caller ID.

'_Bobby,_' she thought, reading the name. '_Talk about the last person I'd want to talk to right now_.' A surge of anger came over her, and she thumbed the power button, shutting the phone off and placing it back into her pocket.

* * *

Within a half-hour, she'd reached the area of the clinic, and heard a group of people chanting. As she got closer, she could make out the chant coming from a large group of people holding up signs in protest, chanting: "We don't need a cure."

Rogue walked hesitantly past them, and walked to the back of the line waiting to enter the clinic. Her heart was beating rapidly, and she felt almost nauseous, the chant echoing in her head. She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.

'_No,_' she thought, shaking her head. She'd wondered earlier what Remy would do, and she realized that she'd known from the moment she asked it. She knew that taking the Cure wouldn't be it.

Bobby was wrong. There were people who would accept her, power and all, Remy being one of them: the most important in her opinion. She remembered Remy's statement in the forest that had touched her so deeply.

"_**Rogue," he said, "You know, if y'ever need to touch someone, jus' ask me – I know how lonely it c'n get without bein' able t'touch with your bare skin. I ain' scared of you, an' de feelin' when you use your power doesn' bother me." **_

She swallowed thickly and then relaxed, leaning against the wall for a moment. She then straightened up, turned on her heel, and strode away from the line, not looking back. There _was_ someone out there for her – there had to be – and she knew that, deep in her heart, she hoped that person would be Remy.

The way Remy behaved toward her, she had a pretty good guess that he might like her the same way she had begun to like him since she'd met him – more than just a friend. And that excited her, she thought, her face reddening when one of the memories she'd absorbed from him came to mind unbidden – him looking down at her face while she slept on the roof with him, brushing her hair to the side.

"Ah guess we'll just have t'see," she muttered to herself.

* * *

Remy set up the kickstand, stepped off his new motorcycle, and shoved the key into his pocket. He placed his helmet on one of the workbenches, and hit the button to close the door to the garage that he'd entered by, before striding into the mansion.

He set several bags down by the entryway, and then went straight to his room, tossing his trenchcoat on the bed, and placing the manila envelope Dan had given him into the drawer of the nightstand. Remy grabbed a towel and dried his sweaty hair the best he could, and then exited the room.

He paused, and then turned and walked down the hall and knocked on Rogue's door. "_Chére_?" He said, knocking again when there was no answer. He eased the doorknob open. "I was wonderin' if you wanted –" He stopped, seeing the light off and the room empty.

He closed the door softly, and moved down the stairs to the main floor.

"Remy!" Sarah said happily, pouncing on him with a big hug.

"Hey, _petite_. How's y'classes been goin'?"

"Great!" She said excitedly. "I really like it here."

"Well, why don' y'tell me 'bout your day over supper." He said, grabbing the large paper bags he'd set down earlier.

"That smells delicious," Sarah said.

"Dis's from _Brother Jimmy's_. Some of de best barbecue in New York. I got us some ribs an' some pulled pork sandwiches."

Remy followed her to the kitchen, and set down the bags. "You seen Rogue?" He asked Sarah. "I got extra for her an' Stormy."

Sarah shook her head. "I've been in class an' with Storm all day. But a brown-haired girl asked me if I'd seen her, just a few minutes ago. She was walkin' around with some other girls and that one boy."

Remy looked at her blankly, amused by her vague descriptions. "Dere's quite a few boys here, _petite_," he said, trying not to laugh.

Sarah pouted. "You know the one I'm talking about. He was yelling at you after we landed the jet, an' you sent me with Rogue because you didn't want me hearin' you argue."

"Ah, him. Iceboy." Remy said. He sighed, and turned from the food. "Let's go find Rogue an' Stormy, _hein_?"

Sarah nodded and grabbed his hand, pulling him down the hall. They stopped when they saw a small group of students gathering near the living room, Kitty, Bobby, Jubilee, and Dani with them.

"Have any of you seen Rogue today?" Bobby was asking them.

Sarah tugged on his hand and shot him a 'Told-ya-so!' look, and he shook his head, grinning back at her.

As Remy walked up, Bobby's question was answered unanimously in the negative by most. "I saw 'er this mornin' at breakfast," Rahne offered helpfully.

"Sorry Bobby, I ain' seen her since breakfast either," Sam said.

"What's goin' on?" Remy asked.

Bobby ignored him but Kitty and the others looked over to him hopefully as most for the students they were questioning entered the living room.

"We can't find Rogue," Dani said. "No one has seen her the last few hours, and she's not anywhere in the mansion. Have you seen her?"

Remy shook his head. "_Non_. I jus' got back from New York. I been out all day. I was actually lookin' for her too. Did you check de stables? She might be dere, or one of de horses might be gone if she went for a ride."

Dani slapped her forehead. "Didn't think of that," she said. "Thanks Gambit." She turned and started in the direction of the back door.

At that moment, Remy saw Piotr turn the corner, having come down the stairs. A frown appeared on his face when he saw the group of them.

Bobby spotted him as well. "Hey Pete, have you seen Rogue?" Piotr was just about the only person in the mansion he had yet to ask. Dani paused in mid-step, and turned back to look at Piotr.

Piotr hesitated, and glanced at his watch. He'd given Rogue plenty of time for the hour's drive and waiting in line, and he felt he had kept it quiet long enough as she'd asked him to. "She left. Little over two hours ago."

"Left?" Bobby asked. "You mean, the mansion?"

Piotr nodded. "She got a cab."

"Where'd she go? Did she tell you?" Bobby asked insistently.

Remy felt a cold prickling at the back of his neck when Piotr paused, looking conflicted.

Piotr finally sighed. "She went to the clinic to get the 'Cure'."

"WHAT?!" Bobby shouted. "Why would she do _that_? Why didn't you stop her? We have to go stop her!"

Remy sighed and closed his eyes, feeling Sarah grip his hand tighter when Bobby began to yell. '_Hope you know what you're doing Chére,_' he thought.

"She left two hours ago. She's probably already taken it. I didn't stop her, because she asked me not to, Bobby. She can make her own choices."

"As to why she did it, she told me she'll never have a relationship that lasts, as long as she has her powers."

Kitty suddenly gasped when she recognized the words uttered to her several hours earlier by Bobby, her face turning white. "Oh my God," she whispered, clamping a hand over her mouth.

Bobby looked at her. "What's wrong?"

"She- she saw us." Kitty said, and squeezed her eyes shut, her face still white.

"Saw what?" Jubilee asked, looking at her.

Remy could feel fear, humiliation, and regret pouring off of Kitty when he tried to stretch out his empathy, and the prickling at the nape of his neck got worse.

Kitty swallowed and looked up at Remy and the others. "Earlier today, about two-and-a-half hours ago, actually, Bobby and I were studying together, and -" She took a shaky breath and glanced at Bobby. "Bobby kissed me. I told him I couldn't cheat behind Rogue's back, and he said he was going to break up with her, and then he said exactly what Rogue told Piotr. She had to have seen us," she whispered, looking down.

"She did. She was pretty upset about it," Piotr finally admitted.

"_Merde_," Remy spat, scowling at Bobby, who looked shocked at the revelation that Rogue had seen what happened. "_Imbécil_! Y'were cheatin' on her?"

Bobby shook his head feebly. "I- I didn't mean to, I –"

Remy gave a disbelieving laugh. "Y'didn' mean to? What, so y'jus' _happened_ t'trip an land on Kitty, an' y'mouth just _happened_ t'say those things?"

Remy shook his head in frustration, and grabbed the cell phone from his pocket. He'd hoped that Rogue had made the decision on her own – for herself, her own reasons – but he knew what seeing that would have done to her, and knew she likely was reacting emotionally.

He pressed the speed-dial he'd set up when she'd shyly given him her number after their time together in the Danger Room, and put the phone to his ear. "Shit," he hissed.

"Straight to voicemail," he said.

"I know," Bobby said. "I tried her before, and it rang for a while, and now it's been going right to voicemail."

Remy snorted in disgust. "Of course it is if you did dat, _connard_! You're de last person she'd want to talk to. She probably shut de phone off after you called."

"Hey!" Bobby said, anger seeping into his voice. "I didn't know when I called her. Quit being an asshole. This's all **your** fault. If you hadn't shown up here things would be just fine right now." He spat.

A sudden, loud, *_**THUD**_* rang through the hall. "Shut UP!" Sarah yelled, her fists clenched angrily. "Quit bein' nasty to him!"

Bobby paled when he saw, just inches from his head, a pale, bony spike embedded in the wall next to him. "Quit blaming him for what you did to Rogue!" Another *_**THUD**_* behind him caused him to spin and see another spike in the wall.

Remy's eyes widened when he looked down at Sarah. The bony growths on her face and along her arms had grown several inches, and torn her shirt sleeves, and several now grew from the knuckles of her clenched fists. He saw the second spike launch from her fists in a blur and thud behind Bobby.

"Whoah. Bobby, maybe you should shut up _right now_ before she makes a Bobby-kabob out of you for being a jerk." Jubilee said in a stage whisper, staring wide-eyed at Sarah.

Remy moved over and gripped Sarah's shoulders. "Sarah!" He said, trying to turn her face to his. "Sarah, _petite_, calm down. Y'gonna hurt someone."

Sarah turned to him, shock on her face. She hadn't noticed the first spike, but she'd seen the second one launch itself from her knuckles. She unclenched her hands, and threw her arms around Remy, the growths shrinking rapidly to their normal size as her anger disappeared.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do it." She cried. "Did I hurt you?"

He rubbed her back. "_Non_, Sarah. You didn't hurt me." He said, ignoring the others' gazes at the two. "Y'don't hafta be sorry. Y'were angry, an' your powers tried to protect you. You didn' do anything wrong."

Remy finally looked up, over her shoulder. Bobby was still pale, and looked like he wanted to be anywhere other than where he was. "Just give it up, Iceboy. Y'can think dat I'm de one dat caused her t'leave if dat helps you soothe y'guilt at night, but we all know it ain' true."

He picked Sarah up in his arms, her face still buried against his shoulder, and looked at the others. "Let's see if de Prof's around. Maybe he c'n figure out what t'do."

He, personally, didn't have a clue. He could try riding there, but chances were, with the amount of time since she'd left, she could very well have taken the Cure and be on her way back to the mansion – better to let Xavier locate her with the Cerebro machine Rogue had told him about.

He just hoped Rogue wouldn't come to regret going to take the cure so quickly after she found Bobby cheating on her: before she'd had a chance to cool down.

* * *

Rogue walked aimlessly down the street, looking for a cab. She'd spotted several drive by, and had tried to flag them down, but they all had passengers and drove right past. She was getting frustrated, and was beginning to consider calling Logan or Remy and asking them to pick her up.

She'd walked little more than half a mile on the somewhat crowded street, when she saw some sort of scuffle break out near the mouth of an alleyway. A short, wiry man with a large bushy beard and a balding head was accosting a young blond-haired woman.

He suddenly brandished an automatic pistol, and shoved the woman against the brick wall. Screams of others who spotted the gun filled the street and several rushed to get away from the man, one running into Rogue and nearly knocking her off her feet.

The man ripped a gold necklace from the woman's neck and grabbed her purse. Her hands reached desperately out for the necklace, and suddenly the muzzle of his gun erupted in a bright flash, and she crumpled to the ground. The bang retorting along the street panicked even more people. The man stared dumbly at his gun, and in a panic shoved it into a pocket before sprinting away.

Seeing no one else making a move to help her, Rogue rushed over to the fallen woman and gently turned her onto her back. The woman moaned in pain, her chest wound bleeding profusely. '_Shit, shit, shit,' _Rogue cursed in her head.

She spun and pointed to one of the several people who'd slowly come back when the man had left. "Call an ambulance! Don't jus' stand there!" She shouted, and the man snapped out of his daze, and pulled out a cell phone.

Rogue tossed her duffel bag down and tore it open, grabbing a shirt, and pressing it firmly to the woman's wound, applying pressure to try to stop the bleeding. She'd learned enough from Annie that she knew she needed to stop it as soon as possible.

Rogue smiled down at the woman as she pressed the shirt down, and she looked up at her in confusion, her blue eyes filled with pain. "Hey there. You're gonna be alright. We're gonna get yah to a hospital, okay? What's yah name, miss?

The woman grimaced, and let out a moan of pain. "C-Carol. Carol Danvers," she gasped.

"Alright Carol, mah name's Rogue. Just sit still s'much as yah can while Ah try t'stop th'bleedin'." Rogue said, but, looking down at the now blood-soaked cloth, she was afraid she'd be unable to do so.

She reached out with one hand and grabbed her second spare shirt from the duffel and pressed the shirt on the wound. Carol was bleeding so much that Rogue was afraid that an artery had been hit.

"R-R-Rogue?" Carol said weakly. "I'm feel tired."

Rogue closed her eyes for a moment and cursed silently. "Carol, y'need t'stay awake, okay? Can y'do that for me?"

"I d-don't know." She said weakly, her eyes slipping shut.

Rogue's mind spun wildly, trying to think of something, before an idea popped into her head. "Talk to me Carol. Tell me 'bout y'self while we wait for th'ambulance."

Carol opened her eyes, and winced when Rogue pressed harder on the wound. "Mmmm-M'from Boston. Goin' t'college – CUNY in B-Brooklyn . I'm ROTC, gonna join th'Air Force."

"Really? Whatcha doin' in this neck of the woods today?" Rogue asked, pasting a calm smile on her face.

"Th'Cure. Gonna take it." She said, looking hesitantly upward, as if afraid that Rogue would jerk her hands away when she realized what she was.

Rogue smiled down at her. "Don' worry, Ah'm a mutant too." She removed the second shirt, and pulled back and took off her own coat, pressing it down on the wound. "What's y'power?"

Carol laughed bitterly, or at least tried to – it came out as more of a wheezing gasp. "M'dad w-wanted me t'get it. He hates mutants."

She reached up weakly and tapped a metallic collar around her neck. "He paid a lot t'get this inhibitor t'stop my p-p'wrs." She grimaced. "Wanted me to make it permanent with th'cure." She sobbed, as the pain continued to worsen.

"That's th'funny part," she choked out. "I'm invulnerable." She giggled somewhat deliriously. "Woulda bounced r-right off, 'stead now I'm- bleeding here w-with you," she said, the last part a whisper.

She looked up blearily at Rogue, clearly struggling to remain conscious. "What- what about yours?"

"Nothin' nearly as handy," Rogue said, a fake lightness in her voice. "Ah touch people, an' Ah absorb a little piece of them: memories, feelings an' even powers if they're a mutant. Can't turn it off though, an' if Ah hold on long enough, Ah c'n put 'em in a coma or kill them."

Carol nodded weakly, her eyes drooping closed for a second before she snapped them back open. "C'mon Carol, stay with me. They should be here soon," Rogue said firmly.

Carol coughed wetly, droplets of blood landing back on her face as they were expelled by her cough. "That's not good, is it?" Carol asked, strangely calm. "Rogue, please tell me. T-tell me th'truth." She coughed up more blood.

Rogue shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. "N-no, it's not good." She whispered.

"I'm g-going to die?"

Rogue started to shake her head, but stopped. "Ah think yah might. Ah'm so sorry." Rogue said, anguished. "Ah can't do anythin' more than this, an' the damn ambulance isn't here yet."

Carol nodded, closing her eyes for a moment. "Th-thank you Rogue." She wheezed, now coughing up blood in larger quantities as her lungs filled up.

Rouge pressed down harder, and Carol's hand shot out, gripping her forearm firmly, pain rolling across her features.

Carol's body shuddered, and she gasped wetly for breath for several moments. She coughed again, and then looked pleadingly up into Rogue's eyes. "P-please. Tell my mom." She said, and then her eyes starting to roll back into her head.

"Carol! Stay awake, please!" She said desperately. "What do you want me to tell her?"

"You know," Carol said simply as her eyes slid shut suddenly and her body relaxed, blood now starting to leak from her nose.

Rogue could hardly see past the tears in her eyes as she felt Carol slip away beneath her hands. Confusion filled her at Carol's words, but things rapidly became clearer as she watched Carol's chest rise weakly, and felt a blinding pain suddenly come over her body.

Her head snapped down to where Carol had grabbed her, and saw she'd moved it under the long sleeve, to touch her skin. Fighting back the pain she was absorbing from Carol, she tried to pry her hand off, but the grip was firm. She batted weakly at the hand as a roar of images washed over her mind, until finally the grip went slack and Carol's chest no longer rose.

'_She did it on purpose_,' was the only thought Rogue could hold on to. She'd heard what Rogue's power did, and – as the emotions roared through Rogue's head – she realized Carol had done it to stop her pain and stop dying by choking on her own blood.

Rogue rocked back on her heels, no longer seeing what was happening around her, but only a stream of memories flying through her head.

Slowly they died down, and the world in front of her came into focus. Someone was pulling her back toward flashing lights, and she stared down at two men near the body of a woman, pulling a sheet over her.

'_Who is that_?' She asked herself. '_Who am __**I**__?_"

Her mind raced, trying to provide her an answer, but she was met only with a jumbled, mixed shout of names from a myriad of voices.

She tore away from the person guiding her toward an ambulance, it's flashing lights hurting her eyes, and she sprinted away. She barely heard the shouts behind her, shoving her way through the crowd that was gathering.

She looked down at her hands as she ran, and saw she was wearing a pair of gloves, which were soaked red with blood. She looked up and was unable to stop from ramming into someone and send them sprawling as she ran past, not knowing where she was, or where she was going.

She ran like that for nearly ten minutes before she collapsed to the street gasping greedily for air, her limbs exhausted. She rested her head against a wall. '_Who am I_?" A female voice echoed through her head. '_What is this place? What am I doing here? Why can't I remember?_' the voice said, rising in panic.

The name Carol echoed in her head, and was once again drowned out by a roar of other voices. "Shut up! Shutupshutupshutupshutup!" She chanted through her clenched teeth, her hands fisting in her hair.

The clamor dimmed a bit but was still there, and emotions began to course through her.

_**Pain.**_

_**Fear.**_

_**Pain.**_

_**Anguish.**_

_**Terror.**_

She couldn't even tell which thoughts were hers or which emotions were hers. She clenched her fists and sobbed in frustration, bringing her knees up to her chest.

She felt a hard object pressing against her chest, and she lowered her legs, digging it out of her pocket. It was a cell phone. That much she remembered at least. She stared at it blankly, not recognizing it, wondering why she had it.

Her fingers moved as if they were on autopilot, flipping it open, and pressing buttons that caused the screen to light up, and then scrolling down a list of names she didn't recognize. Finally one leapt out at her. 'Remy' it said simply. '_Why is that familiar? Do I know this person?' _She heard another voice yelling at her, much louder than the others, telling her that, yes, she knew him and that he could help her.

"Shut up!" she said, drawing even more stares from the people around her who looked worriedly at the blood-soaked girl who was speaking to herself. Her finger pressed the green button, and her hand brought the phone up to her ear.

She stared at her arm in confusion, and growing fear. "I don't remember telling it to do that," she said softly, looking out of the corner of her eye at her hand, which seemed like it was being moved by someone else. Then the phone began to ring loudly in her ear.

* * *

Remy growled in frustration when they couldn't find Xavier in his office. He spun around, Sarah still in his arms, and walked down the hall to the stairwell, and took the stairs down two at a time. He was being closely followed by the others, and Bobby trailed further behind, trying to avoid being seen by Sarah after his close encounter with her spike projectiles earlier.

He caught sight of Ororo emerging from the gym room, dressed in a pair of shorts and a light shirt, clearly having just gone through a workout.

"Stormy, I'm lookin' for Charles."

Ororo looked curiously at the group of them, and shook her head. "He's in Boston right now with Logan, interviewing someone for the teaching position. They flew out this morning after you left."

"Damnit," Remy said.

"What's going on?" Ororo asked.

"Rogue's gone. She saw Iceboy kissin' Kitty, found out he was goin' t'break up wit' her, an' she took off t'get de cure. I was jus' hopin' de Prof could use dat Cerebro thingy t'see if she's alright."

"I'm sorry, Gambit. Charles is the only one that can operate Cerebro. He's been thinking of a modification that makes it automated without a need for a telepath, but that's at least a year away." She glanced to him. "You tried her phone?"

"She's got it turned off," Remy sighed.

"She told me she was coming back," Piotr said softly.

"Well dat's somethin' at least," Remy sighed.

"I'll go call Charles and let him and Logan know what's going on." Ororo said, and started to turn, when strings of "_Stairway to Heaven_" filled the hallway.

Remy blushed, and shifted Sarah in his arms. "Dat's me," he said, groping into his pocket for his phone.

He sighed with relief when Rogue's name popped up on the display, and he quickly thumbed on the line. "Rogue?"

"R-Remy? Is this Remy?" She asked. Her voice sounded off, but he brushed it off for the moment – he'd never talked to her over the phone before, and many people sounded different over it.

"Yeah, it's me, you alright?"

"N-no, I'm not," she sobbed into the phone. "Can you h-help me? She said y'could help me."

"Rogue, calm down, y'not makin' sense. Tell me what's wrong, an' I'll help you."

"Is she alright? Where is she?" Bobby asked.

Remy placed his palm over the mouthpiece. "Shut th'fuck up," he hissed, but calmed himself when he felt Sarah tense up in his arms.

There was silence on the other end, and Remy was about to ask her again when she spoke. "I don't know. I can't remember who I am." She cried. "Shut up! I can't think!"

'_Shit,_' Remy thought. "What happened, Rogue?"

"I-I don't know. There was blood everywhere, and a body." She said brokenly, and then her voice changed perceptibly to what he was used to. "It was her - touched, an' it happened. Ev'ryone's shoutin' in mah head. Don' know who Ah am." Her voice returned to the one that had answered the phone. "Pl-please help me." She sobbed.

"Don' worry, I'm gonna help you," he promised. "Where you at, Rogue? I'll come get you."

"Ah- Ah don't know," she said, her voice back to normal a second time.

"Are you in a city? Lots of stores and cars 'round you?" He asked, ignoring the concerned looks of everyone around him.

"Y-yeah. There's people an' cars. Sidewalks."

"Alright, can you tell me what road you're on? Look around for a green sign on a tall post an' tell me what it says."

There was a pause. "B-Baychester. An' there's another one. Be quiet!" She hissed the last part to whoever was speaking in her head. "Th'other one – it says Strange – no, its Strang Avenue."

Remy sighed with relief. "Alrigh' _Chére, _you stay right where y'are, an' I'll come get you, okay?"

"A-alright. Please hurry. There's a man in a car with flashing lights here now, an' ev'ryone's still starin' at me."

"I'll be dere soon as I can, Rogue, jus' call me if y'move from where y'are."

"Thank you," she cried.

"I'm gonna hang up now, okay?"

"Alright," she said quietly, and he heard her end of the line click off. He snapped his phone shut, and slid it hastily into his pocket.

"Gambit, what is it?" Storm asked, concerned by the one-sided conversation they'd heard.

He looked at her, anguish clear in his eyes. "I don' know, Stormy. I think she absorbed someone, an' her mind's not reactin' well. She can't remember who she is, an' she said she was hearin' voices. Said somethin' about blood, so she might be hurt, too."

Ororo placed a hand over her mouth. Remy pulled Sarah away from his shoulder. "_Petite_…" he began.

She nodded knowingly. "You hafta help Rogue. I hope she's gonna be alright"

Remy sighed and placed her back on her feet. "I do too _petite_. You stay here with Stormy, okay? You know where de food I brought is, so show Stormy where it's at, an' eat up while I'm gone."

Sarah nodded, and moved over to clutch Ororo's hand tightly. He moved next to Ororo and whispered in her ear. "She had an accident earlier wit' her powers, almost skewered Iceboy when he was bein' an ass. Talk t'her – I think she's scared 'bout what happened." Ororo nodded, glancing down at Sarah, and he moved back.

"Give y'a call when I find her." He said, and spun to go back up the stairs.

"We're coming with you," Piotr started to say, stepping toward him.

Remy placed a hand on Piotr's shoulder. "Thank you Piotr, but _non_ –I'm goin' alone. She said somethin' 'bout a cop showin' up, an' I c'n deal wit' dem, but only if you guys aren't along, _hein_?"

Piotr reluctantly nodded, and Remy suddenly thought of something. "Where was the clinic she was goin' to? She gave me street names, but it'd help if I knew the area she was at."

"She said she was going to the clinic in Mount Vernon." Piotr said.

Remy nodded his thanks and then brushed past them, sprinting up the stairs, taking them three at a time. He continued up to his room, and slipped his new driver's license into his wallet, and grabbed the thick black ID Dan had given him. He tore off his T-shirt and slid on a button-up shirt, and then threw on his trenchcoat and slipped the ID into the outside pocket.

He moved into the hall and started down the stairs. About halfway down the first flight, he placed his hand on the banister, and vaulted over it, landing on the next set of stairs, and he nimbly shifted on his feet and continued that, making it to the bottom floor in seconds, ignoring students on the stairs that he startled.

He strode past the computer lab and entered the garage. He grabbed a set of keys from the workbench, and clicked the unlock button to see which vehicle they belonged to. The lights to a sleek Mazda RX-8 flashed, and he slapped the button to open the garage door. He slid into the driver's seat, shove the key into the ignition, and started the car.

He drove forward, the roof of the car missing the rising garage door by mere inches. Once he was outside the gates, he slammed his foot down on the gas, and the car lurched forward with a high-pitched squeal as the tires clawed for traction on the pavement.

* * *

"She's going to hate me," Ororo heard Kitty whisper brokenly as her friends tried to comfort her. Ororo looked down at Sarah who was still holding her hand. "Let's go get you something to eat, sweetie."

Sarah nodded, her expression glum, and let Ororo lead her to the elevator. On the ground floor, Ororo began to walk to the kitchen, but slowed down slightly when her attention was drawn to what Remy had told her about. Two bony spikes, close to an inch in diameter and nearly five inches long, plus whatever length was hidden, were embedded firmly into the wooden wall of the hallway. A distinct crack in the wood extended above and below each spike.

Sarah noticed her gaze, and looked down. "Its Remy mad at me?" She asked softly.

Ororo's eyes snapped down to her in surprise. "No, sweetie! Why would Remy be mad at you?

"For those," she said, nodding at the spikes. "The last time I did that, my daddy told me he hated me, and kicked me out of the house," she said, trembling as the events of that day replayed in her mind.

Ororo grabbed her into a hug. She pulled back and placed her hands on Sarah's shoulders. "Your daddy wasn't right. He didn't understand who you are."

"Remy's not mad at you, Sarah. He's worried about you. He had the same sort of accidents you had today – we all did. I flooded a village when my powers first awakened. And you know what Remy did? His dad had to remove the door from his bedroom because Remy kept blowing up the doorknob when he touched it."

A small smile appeared on Sarah's face. "He did?"

Ororo laughed. "Yes, he did. He also told me he needed to buy a new toothbrush every day because it blew up every time he finished brushing his teeth. We all know what it's like, and this is why Remy brought you here: so you can learn to control your abilities so things like that don't happen any more."

Sarah sniffled and wiped a tear from her eye with the back of her hand, and gave Ororo a tentative smile. "Okay. I just – I know Remy's not like my daddy was, but I was afraid he'd do the same thing."

Ororo shook her head firmly. "He won't, ever. He loves you too much to do something like that."

Sarah flushed. "He-he loves me?" She asked with a wondering tone in her voice.

Ororo nodded. "Maybe he hasn't told you, but I can see it just the way he looks at you. You mean the world to him, Sarah."

Sarah smiled shyly. "Really?"

Ororo smiled at her and squeezed her shoulder. "Yes, really."

Her face bright, she looked up to Ororo. "Thanks, Storm."

"You're welcome, sweetie. Now, what's this food Remy got us?"

Sarah smiled and grabbed her hand, pulling her toward the kitchen. "He said he got us barbecued ribs and pulled pork. He said it was from the best place in New York. C'mon, we've gotta try it – it smelled great!" Sarah exclaimed, and Ororo followed after her, amused – and quite hungry.

* * *

Remy sped along the freeway, at times breaking a hundred miles an hour when he could weave in and out of traffic. He'd even blown past a police car sitting on the side of the road, and the officer was apparently too startled or shocked at the blur that flew past him, that he didn't even attempt to give chase.

As Remy neared the city he slowed somewhat, and reached over to punch in the intersection that Rogue had given him into the GPS installed in the dashboard. He followed the mapped route, and exited the freeway, now forced to go slower. He glanced at the clock, and almost smiled when he saw the usual hour-long drive had only taken him twenty minutes.

Remy turned off the GPS as he neared the intersection, no longer needing it. He could see – half a mile away – at least a dozen police cars with their lights still flashing, sitting in a semicircle around a storefront. Behind a line of yellow caution tape they'd set up, a rather large crowd was growing.

Remy ensured his sunglasses were firmly in place and then pulled the car to a screeching halt, the front bumper mere inches from the police tape. His arrival caused several of the officers to look up. There were close to two dozen uniformed men standing near their cars, some with guns drawn, and all looking at the lone, female figure they surrounded.

Remy opened the door and spotted two unconscious officers resting on the ground with several paramedics trying to wake them up.

Remy put on his poker face, cleared his throat, and stepped out of the car. He brushed out a fold in his trenchcoat, and then strode over to the officer in charge. The burly, mustached man looked up at his approach.

"Good evening, Captain…" He peered at his badge "Murdock." Remy said, without even a hint of his accent. To anyone that didn't know him, he sounded as if he'd grown up in the New England area rather than in the Big Easy.

That was one of the great things about changing your identity, Remy mused to himself as mentally prepared himself for his act for his act – you didn't have to put on a wig or makeup – you could just change your accent, act as if you were in charge, and in most cases, no one was the wiser.

"May I help you?" He asked. "We're a little busy right now."

Remy nodded. "I'm Special Agent Robert Lord," Remy said, pulling out the thick black leather ID holder.

He folded it open, and on the bottom half, a CAC photo ID – issued to Department of Defense employees – displayed his name and picture. On the top half was pinned a heavy metal badge displaying a large eagle with its wings outstretched, a heraldic shield on its chest displaying a row of horizontal stars with vertical stripes below that. In a circle around the eagle were the words "Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division".

The captain straightened visibly. "I'm sorry sir; I didn't realize S.H.I.E.L.D. was coming."

Remy nodded politely. "We just heard about this." He nodded over to the female in the center of their perimeter, who was on her knees, her face in her hands. "She's one of our agents, and she recently suffered a mental breakdown. I'll take over from here."

"Yes Special Agent Lord. You do know she's a mutant? She was seen a mile from here where a young woman was shot to death about an hour or so ago. The paramedics found her trying to save the woman, and said she became disoriented and fled. We found her here, and she's knocked out two of my officers."

Remy nodded knowingly. "I know. She's disoriented and doesn't know who she is. Our psychologists have told us it's associated with her power. I'm simply here to take her back to get her some help."

The captain nodded, not looking very surprised. "I'd heard something about S.H.I.E.L.D. starting to use superhumans."

"Yes, we've found them quite useful. She's one of the our best." Remy said, nodding again to her.

The captain looked at him in sympathy. "Give us the word and we'll help you bring her in to get help."

Remy shook his head. "Thank you, but that shouldn't be necessary. I'm her handler, and we believe she'll recognize me. I'll approach her alone so we don't startle her."

The captain nodded in assent, and raised his voice to the other officers. "This agent from S.H.I.E.L.D. is here to take this girl into custody. Please stay back as he approaches her."

Remy smiled politely, and walked forward, past the patrol cars and into the empty center. He slowly approached Rogue, who still knelt with her head in her hands, crying softly, and occasionally muttering something to herself.

"Rogue," he said gently as he approached, but she didn't respond. The fear and confusion pouring off of her hammered into his rudimentary empathy, and that worried him – typically he only felt it if he tried actively to use the empathy. He reached down, calling her name once again, and touched her shoulder gently.

The instant he did, her fists swung out wildly, and one connected with his stomach. It felt as if a freight train had decided to punch a hole through his body at top speed. He found himself lifted from the ground by the punch, and hurled nearly ten feet. In the air, his only thought was that he was glad he'd worn his padded body armor. Remy landed hard, crumpling a several aluminum garbage cans – which lined the side of the street waiting for a pick-up – beneath him, their contents spilling out on the street.

Rogue looked up as the punch connected, and felt horrified when she realized she vaguely recognized the person she'd hit. She stood quickly to rush over to his side, when a *_**CRACK CRACK**_* filled the street. Rogue felt the air get knocked out of her, and she fell down to the street, pain blossoming in her stomach.

The officer next to where Remy had landed was very young, hardly out of the academy, and he'd been one of those with their guns drawn. As Rogue had stood and started moving toward him, his finger twitched on the trigger, panicking after seeing her toss the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent like a ragdoll.

Remy watched in horror as Rogue crumpled to the ground, and he fought back his pain and pushed himself to his feet. "Ceasefire! Ceasefire!" He snarled, slamming the man's hand downward so the third and fourth shots sent up chips of pavement as they struck the ground. Remy could distantly hear, through his ringing ears, the Captain giving the same order.

Remy brought his hand down in a hammerfist strike into the radial nerve on the man's forearm, causing the gun to fall from his now-limp hand, and then shoved the man back past his patrol car.

Remy gasped in a pained breath – what hadn't been knocked clean out by Rogue had been used up in his shout at the man. He gasped several more times, and staggered forward to Rogue's side, and collapsed on his knees next to her.

He gently touched her again, tensing for another blow, but she relaxed at his touch which was, now that she hazily remembered him, strangely comforting. He pushed her knees down, and pulled her hands from where she grasped her stomach, and pulled up her shirt.

He stared blankly when, instead of seeing her bleeding, he saw two pieces of metal smashed flat against her skin, nearly unrecognizable as the two bullets that had hit her.

"Well that's new," he muttered. He reached out and gently peeled them away, hissing at the heat they still contained from being shot and then deforming against her stomach. He pulled her shirt back down, and sat back painfully on his heels. He was pretty certain he'd at least cracked a rib if not more than one, but he put the stabbing pain out of mind – he needed his head clear to keep up his Robert Lord alias.

Rogue looked up at him, and his heart clenched when he saw how lost she looked. Her eyes glimmered in a dim recognition as she looked at his face. "R-Remy?" She whispered. "Are you Remy?"

He nodded, smiling at her. "Told you I'd come," he said softly. "I'm here to get you out of here, so just play along with me."

She nodded weakly, and he helped her to her feet. He removed his trenchcoat and draped it over her shoulders before putting a comforting arm around her shoulders, and guiding her toward the patrol car that Murdock stood behind.

"Special Agent Lord, is she alright?" Murdock asked looking at her in concern.

"Fortunately," Remy said darkly. "If her power hadn't been activated she'd have two bullets in her."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Lord. Berkowitz will be considering a new career after this," he said, glaring across the street at the young officer who seemed to cower under his gaze.

Remy glanced next to him at Rogue who had her head down, leaning closely against his side. "I want to get her out of here…" Remy said, trailing off.

Murdock nodded readily. "Go right ahead, sir. I understand. I'll take care of things here."

Remy smiled. "Have a good evening, Captain," he said, guiding Rogue to the Mazda. He helped her into the passenger's seat, and closed the door.

He slid into his own seat and started the car, throwing a glance over his shoulder as he backed up, and then started off at a sedate pace. After taking several side-roads, he pulled off the road well out of sight, and parked the car before turning to Rogue.

She looked over to him thankfully. "You came." She said, tears in her eyes. "Thank you."

"What happened, Rogue?" He asked her softly, touching her shoulder.

She threw herself, sobbing, into his arms. "I-I don't know. I can't remember." She said, although she wasn't sure about that – perhaps one of the jumble of memories in her head was of what happened, but she couldn't tell which one. "I can't – I feel like I know y-you, and one of the voices is telling me that I do,"

She looked up at him with vulnerable eyes, and he saw almost a hint of blue around the brown of her iris. "Am I crazy?"

He placed his gloved hands on either side of her face and stroked her tears away with his fingers. "No, y'not crazy. Don' know if y'remember, but you're a mutant. Y'absorb people's memories. I think y'touched someone too long, an' your head's havin' trouble dealin' with it."

She nodded, but looked confused – she didn't remember having that. In fact, she could almost remember a different ability – several in fact – but it sat at the edge of her mind, evading her grasp.

One of her hands moved up and laid flat against Remy's chest, and then began to brush upward, running up his neck, along his cheek, and then touching the side of his sunglasses.

"R-Remy?" She said, looking at her hand in shock. "Remy, I'm not moving my hand," she said with a trembling voice. "Someone else is moving it."

Her hand gripped the sunglasses, and gently removed them, and she gasped when she saw his hypnotic red-on-black eyes. She felt a pounding pressure in her head, behind her eyes, as _something_ released a rapid stream of images – Remy on a horse next to her, standing close to her, lying next to her under a night sky, touching her hand.

She shuddered in his arms, and her breath game in large gasps. "Remy, I-I remember something. We rode horses, and spent time together on… on a roof? But the memories are too fast."

He felt a hint of relief, and realized that seeing him without his glasses had triggered her memories. Perhaps something more would snap her at least partially back.

"I'm gonna tell y'things 'bout yourself, an' you tell me if dat helps you remember, okay?"

She nodded shakily. "Please. I can't stand this."

"Dose horses you remember. I was ridin' on Moondancer, an' you were ridin' on Chestnut – she's your fav'rite." He said, but Rogue shook her head. Obviously it wasn't strong enough of a trigger for her mind, he realized.

"Alright, y'had a sister, named Anna. Y'remember tellin' me that?" Remy asked.

Rogue was silent for a moment. "No, but when you said that, I could see an image of myself playing' with a young girl."

Remy closed his eyes and breathed a prayer of thanks. "Good. Let's see. Y'name is Rogue." He said.

She crinkled her nose. "That's a weird name," she said.

He smiled at her. "Dat's de name you gave y'self when you left home. Your real name is Marie D'Ancanto."

She stiffened in his arms as the voices roared thunderously in her head, and more images streamed by. "Marie," she said softly, her voice changing, her accent returning. "Ah'm Marie," she whispered, and looked up at him with wonder.

He noticed instantly that the blue around the irises of her eyes had disappeared – a moment before they rolled up inside her head, and she collapsed limply against him.

"Rogue!" He shouted, panicked. He reached down and checked her pulse, but it seemed normal and, pulling her away, he saw her breathing was smooth and even, and she had a relaxed smile on her face.

Remy closed his eyes. "Shit, _Chére_, don' scare me like dat," he muttered.

He tried to gently wake her, but she remained sleeping, and only shifted slightly against him at his attempts. Maybe, he thought, her mind needed the sleep to start healing and recovering.

He gently pried her arms from around him, and moved her back to her seat. She gave a moan of dissatisfaction as she was pulled away from him, but relaxed when he touched her hand while he used his other hand to buckle her seatbelt.

Remy started the car up, and swung it back to the road, now driving on instinct until he reached a familiar road. He pulled the car to a stop once again, and quietly climbed out. He walked up to the entrance of the apartments and hit the buzzer several times, before Dan trudged out and opened the main door.

Dan blinked, and his face lit up. "Remy! Back so soon? Come back to get th'money you 'forgot' in my pocket?"

Remy gave him a weak grin. "Not now, Dan. I need de key to my apartment. Lost mine at de bottom of de river."

Dan nodded and shoved a hand into his pocket, fishing around for his keychain. He glanced at the car. His face straightened into a wide grin. "Why Remy, you ol' devil! Takin' the girl to your place for a good time?"

Remy's face flushed. "Not exactly. She's a friend, an' she needs a place to crash. Jus' found out her boyfriend was cheatin' on her." He said vaguely, not really wanting to get into the lengthy story of Xavier's school, or her powers.

"Ouch," Dan winced. "You're a good friend, Remy. Aha, there it is." He said, removing the key in question from the keychain and handing it to Remy.

Remy smiled. "Thanks Dan. An' don' try t'give me de money back – it's yours now, friend." He said, turning back to the car.

"See y'round, Remy," Dan called after him as he shut the car door.

Remy gave him a wave through the car window, and then checked on Rogue who was now curled up on her side in the seat.

"We're gonna get you better, _Chére_," he said softly as he spun the car in a U-turn in the direction of his apartment. He smiled to himself as she shifted in the seat at his words, and he could only hope that he was telling the truth.

* * *

_**A/N: Well, there you have it. Bet ya didn't see that coming! :-D**_

_**I've had much of this chapter in my head since I started writing this story. I wanted a unique way for the Rogue of the movies to meet with Ms. Marvel, and I hope you enjoyed my "movieverse twist" on the comics – poor Carol though! :( **_

_**Tried to make Carol somewhat similar to her comic counterpart – in the comics her dad can't accept women as equals to men and basically shuns her for trying to be equal, and here he can't accept mutants as equal and shuns her, and in future chapters we'll see more parallels (and differences) as we find out more about her.**_

_**Anyway, next chapter will be mainly on Rogue, as she struggles with the aftereffects largest absorption of someone she's ever had. Should be a lot more Romy. Perhaps more on the Magneto or Creed fronts – only have a basic outline right now.**_

_As an unrelated rant, I was watching X3 the other night (it's on almost every week on FX, I've noticed) and I was reminded of something that bothered me the first time I saw it. Angel listens to the Wolverine talk about Magneto and Alcatraz, and you don't see him in the jet with them, and yet he shows up to catch his dad about ten minutes behind the team. Purdy darn quick flying from New York to San Francisco for a guy with just wings (and no afterburner)!_ :D


	14. Chapter 14: Recovery

_**Disclaimer: X-men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway ;)**_

_A/N: Well, they just keep coming! Already back with another chapter. Hope you all had great 4th of July weekends – I had a fun time with my family camping for the weekend. _

_Thanks for all of your reviews last chapter, great to get feedback – I haven't had any time to respond to all of them, so I'll just thank everyone here. On to the chapter:_

**Chapter 14: Recovery**

* * *

The last rays of the sun poked feebly over the horizon as Remy neared his stop. Remy smoothly pulled the car into the last empty space in front of his apartment building, and shut it down. It was part of an apartment complex further downtown, in the Bronx. The apartments had stood at that spot for close to fifty years, and their imposing brick facades gave testament to that. The current owner had renovated the entire complex two years earlier, and Remy had quickly put down for a lease on a large two-roomer on the top floor.

Remy palmed his key to his apartment, and walked to the opposite side of the car and opened the door. He unbuckled Rogue's seatbelt, and knelt down to lift her in his arms. He was able to do so without much effort, especially when she unconsciously snuggled closer and placed an arm around his neck.

Remy locked up the car, and made the quick walk to the small elevator that serviced the building. He received several strange looks from two older men and their wives who looked to be coming back from a night on the town, but he ignored them as they exited the elevator before him. Finally, it reached the fifth floor and he walked to the end of the hall and to his door, slid his key into the lock, and opened it.

Remy kicked the door shut behind him with his foot, and walked further into the apartment. He moved past the small living room and kitchen and down a small hall to two doors. He passed the first – it had been the smaller of the two rooms and he'd set it up as an exercise area – and pushed open the door to the second: the master bedroom.

Remy set Rogue gently down onto his large bed, and slipped his head out from under her arm. She shifted uncomfortably on the bed, and unconsciously turned on her side and grasped a pillow the way she'd been embracing Remy's neck.

Remy smiled down at her, and tentatively reached out with his empathy. Since she'd passed out in the car her emotions had stopped hammering him as they had been, and now when he touched her mind he felt merely a sense of confusion.

As he looked at her, he noticed for the first time that her gloves were stained the dark red, almost maroon color of dried blood, and recalled her statement on the phone when she'd called him. He leaned down and gently peeled the gloves from her hands, and tossed them aside.

Remy pulled back, the movement triggering a stabbing pain in his chest. "Fuck," he whispered, stumbling over to the bathroom mirror. The shower and toilet themselves were in their own small room, but the sink and mirror were out in the main bedroom. He pulled his shirt off, and grimaced as the movement sent a ripple of fresh pain through him.

Remy unhooked the catches on his body armor and removed it piece by piece. He saw that the plate covering his stomach had been dented perceptibly inward in the shape of a fist, and decided he didn't want to think about what would have happened had he not worn it. When he slipped it off, he saw a brilliant purple bruise across his stomach where Rogue had landed her punch.

He shook his head and looked over his shoulder in the mirror at the sleeping Rogue. "Who de hell did you absorb, _Chére_?" He asked softly.

Remy turned to look at his back and saw several more bruises forming from his landing on the garbage cans, but they were not close in severity to the one on his abdomen. Remy walked out of the room and into the kitchen, and grabbed several ice packs he kept in the freezer for just that sort of injury.

Once back in the bedroom he looped a towel around his body, and placed the ice packs in it, positioning them along his abdomen and back, and tying the towel off at his side so they pressed against the bruises. He popped half a dozen painkillers into his mouth and downed them with a glass of water before he sank into a soft chair near the bed.

Once he shifted into a comfortable position, he pulled out his cell-phone and punched in the number for the mansion. The main line rang once and was immediately picked up. "H'lo?" A gruff voice answered the phone.

"Logan," Remy smiled. "You're back?"

"Yeah, just got back with Charles. 'Roro was starting to explain everything to us. You find Rogue?" He asked, sounding tense, his worry for Rogue clear in his voice.

Remy sighed. "Yeah, I found her. Is Stormy an' Charles dere?"

"Yeah," Logan said, not sounding satisfied with Remy's answer.

"Put me on de speaker phone so dey can hear too."

There was a pause and then an audible click and Logan's voice came back, sounding slightly more distant. "Alright, you're on, Cajun."

"Remy, you found her?" Storm asked.

"Is she alright?" the soft voice of Sarah called out over the line.

"Sarah? Didn' 'spect to hear you dere. Yeah, I found her, an' I think she'll be okay. Far as I c'n tell she was helping someone dat got hurt, an' touched dem an' absorbed too much. She couldn' remember who she was, an' was pretty scared."

"I got her talkin', an' when she saw me she started rememberin' flashes. I tol' her some things t'try to jar her memory back, an' den she seemed t'be startin' to remember. Passed out half an' hour ago an' she's been sleepin' since den."

He could almost hear Xavier's nod. "It definitely sounds like she either absorbed someone too powerful for her to handle instantly, or too much of the person's psyche. When Rogue touches someone, she keeps not only their powers, but a small copy of their actual mind, and absorbing a large enough copy could cause her to confuse the new psyche with her own mind."

Remy chewed on his lip for a moment. "I think it might've been both. She was talkin' to me wit' a Boston accent, an' her eyes actually started turnin' blue until she remembered who she was. She's also still got de powers of de person she touched – 'parrently dey were invulnerable: she got shot at close range by a trigger happy cop, an' her skin flattened 'em like pancakes."

"Hm. That is unusual that she can still access those abilities so long after she absorbed them. In any case, I know you said she seems to be remembering, but I believe I may need to enter her mind to help it heal itself and recover. Will you be here soon?" Charles asked.

Remy cleared his throat. "Uh, no. I got a place here in New York, an' she's sleepin' here. I'll bring her back t'morrow, but I wanna be sure she's up to it. Don' want her havin' a breakdown again, wakin' up dere an' seein' Bobby or anythin' like that."

He heard Logan growl at the mention of Bobby, and Remy realized Ororo had already filled them in on that part of what happened. Xavier seemed to think about it for several moments before he replied. "Alright, Remy. I'd like to see her as soon as possible, but you make a good point. Her mind may also use the time to heal, so try not to wake her if you can help it. We will see you tomorrow?"

"_Oui_," Remy said. "Can I talk t'Stormy privately?"

"Of course," Xavier said, and Remy could hear background noises sound over the phone. "Logan and I will leave you with her."

Moments later, Ororo spoke over the line. "They're gone, Remy."

"Alright. Sarah, you bein' good for Stormy?"

"Yeah," Sarah said, sounding somewhat sad. "You're not coming back tonight?"

"No, _petite_, I'm sorry. Rogue's in pretty bad shape, an' I want t'make sure she's better before I take her dere. Get Stormy to tuck you in, _hein_? An' have her show y'where her room is 'case you have any more bad dreams, okay _petite_?"

"Okay, Remy. Tell Rogue I hope she feels better soon."

"I'll take care of her for you, Remy." Ororo promised.

"Remy?" Sarah asked tentatively.

"Yeah?"

"You're hurt again, aren't you?" She said, more of a statement than a question.

Remy chuckled, still amazed at her ability to tell that just by hearing his voice, and then winced as his side twinged. "Yeah, _petite_. At least dis time I didn' get shot. I'll be alright – should be healin' up by de time I get dere tomorrow."

"Okay, Remy," she said dubiously, "see you tomorrow."

"G'night you two," Remy said, and they replied in kind. He heard the other end click, and flipped his phone shut. He stood up and pulled the chair up next to the bedside, and leaned forward until his head rested on the bed next to Rogue, and let his eyes fall shut and sleep overcome him.

* * *

Rogue blinked blearily as she awoke. She could hear the soft noise of a television nearby, but it was drowned out mostly by the sound of running water. She rubbed her eyes, and lifted her head from her pillow.

She glanced around, and felt a sudden panic as she realized she was not in her room, and that in fact she didn't recognize the place at all. She turned her head toward the sound of running water, and instantly relaxed when she saw Remy standing at the sink. He stood in front of the mirror, running a razor along his shin as he shaved the last few patches of stubble on his face.

He had a towel wrapped loosely over his abdomen, but he was otherwise shirtless, and she found herself sleepily admiring his muscled arms and back. As her eyes ran over him, she noted that his smooth, tanned skin was marred in several places along his back by scars – no doubt ones obtained in his line of work with the Thieves Guild.

Remy tapped the razor under the running faucet, and bent down to splash several handfuls of water, rinsing his face. As he grabbed a small hand towel and patted his face dry, he froze for a moment and then smiled, turning toward Rogue, having finally seen her in the mirror.

Rogue felt a rising blush, having been caught ogling him, but he didn't seem to notice it. He approached her, sliding a loose t-shirt on himself over the towel, and sat down in a chair directly next to her bed.

"Rogue?" He asked tentatively.

"Remy, where am Ah?" She asked, and noticed his posture relaxed as she talked.

"You're at my apartment in New York," he said tentatively.

Rogue smiled and glanced around, taking in the room – it looked just about how she would have imagined. The walls were covered in numerous movie posters, a small pile of dirty clothes laid untidily in the corner of the room, and the dressers were littered with dozens of packs of playing cards; on a nearby table stood what looked like the bottom two floors of a house of cards Remy had begun to build.

"How did Ah get here?" She asked, bringing her gaze back to him.

Remy frowned. "Let's take it slow, _Chére_. What can y'remember?"

She thought over that for a moment. "The last thing Ah remember, Ah was walkin' down th'street. Ah was thinkin' 'bout takin' th'Cure." She said softly. "Why was Ah goin' to do that?" she asked herself quietly.

Her eyebrows furrowed together, and then her eyes widened, and tears began to leak from them. She saw Remy looking at her with concern, and she shut her eyes and raised a hand to her mouth, muffling a soft sob. "R-Remy, Ah saw Bobby. He- he was-."

Remy moved onto the bed – there so quickly that Rogue hadn't even noticed him move – and encircled her with his arms. "I know, _Chére_, I know. Piotr told us when he was sure y'had de time you needed to make your choice 'bout de Cure."

Rogue sniffled into his shirt. "Ah remember Ah was gonna take it because he said Ah'd never find anyone, an' ah thought he was right. But when Ah was standin' in line Ah realized he was wrong. You an' Logan aren't bothered by mah powers like he was. Ah tried to think what you would do if you were there, an' Ah realized yah wouldn' take the cure. So Ah left the line, an'…." She pulled back and looked up at Remy in confusion. "Ah can't remember anythin' after that."

Remy smiled into her hair and squeezed her tightly. "Figured y'might not remember. An' you're right, Rogue – I don' need you t'take de Cure. I ain' like Bobby – your powers could last f'rever without control, an' it still wouldn' bother me."

Rogue flushed, her face hidden in his chest. She sighed contentedly into his shirt, and let herself relax as he held her.

"Remy, I–" she began as she looked up finally, and then blushed even more heavily when her stomach growled loudly. She hadn't eaten since lunch-time the previous day, and her stomach had decided to make its needs known quite vocally.

Remy laughed. "How 'bout I make you some breakfast, an' you try t'remember. If you still can't, I'll tell you what I know over breakfast."

Rogue nodded against his chest, and reluctantly pulled back. He ran the back of his hand against her cheek, and she felt her heart clench hopefully – his touch seemed downright affectionate. She saw a look of relief in his eyes, mixed with another emotion, before he turned them away, and stood, backing away to make his way out the door of the bedroom.

Rogue leaned back in the bed, gently placing a hand to her cheek where the tingling from his touch still lingered. After several minutes she heard the sound of bacon sizzling, and smiled.

Rogue's attention became drawn to the television sitting on a stand opposite the bed. It was on, playing softly, and she groped around on the nightstand for the remote. She turned up the volume, just as the news channel switched to a new story. The video showed an ambulance sitting near a large crowd on a street, its lights flashing as a body bag was carried into the back by two paramedics.

The female news anchor began to speak as the image played. _"In local news, Mount Vernon experienced a fatal shooting last night, apparently in a robbery gone bad. Police are still looking for the man who assaulted a young woman last night, shooting her in the chest and before stealing her valuables."_

A sketch of the man appeared on the screen, and Rogue felt a pounding headache begin in her head as the news anchor explained the sketch had been created by police artists from eyewitness descriptions.

_"Police have confirmed that the victim was 22 year-old Carol Danvers. She attended college locally in New York City, and was originally from Boston. We have attempted to speak with her parents, but have been unable to obtain an interview at this time…."_

The news anchor droned on, but Rogue's attention was fixed completely on the screen where they had displayed a photo of the woman, obviously obtained from a college ID. As Rogue stared at the young blond – her brilliant blue eyes and white smile were clear even in the grainy picture - and her headache worsened, and the memories of the previous night began to flood back: Carol lying on the pavement, Carol slipping away weakly beneath her hands, Carol gripping her wrist, confusion exploding through her mind as memories flooded her, the shocked look on Remy's face as he flew through the air away from her, the hammering impact of bullets in her abdomen.

"Remy!" Rogue cried out, as her hands groped down to her stomach only to find no bandaging, no wound, only two small bruises on her skin.

A clatter of dishes sounded in the kitchen, and within moments Remy had rushed into the room. "Rogue?" He asked. "What's wrong?"

Rogue raised a hand from her abdomen and pointed a shaky finger to point at the television, and she absently realized she wasn't wearing any gloves.

He turned his head to follow her finger, and saw the picture of Carol. "What is it, _Chére?_" He asked, looking back to her as he sat down at the foot of the bed.

"Ah remember it all now, Remy. The gun, and – " She looked at him and paled. "Oh God, Remy," she said.

She moved forward, and tugged his shirt up frantically, loosening the towel, and peered at the large bruise that had blossomed. She looked up at him in anguish. "Ah'm sorry." She said. "Ah didn' realize it was you, an' Ah just reacted."

Remy smiled gently over at her. "I know, Rogue. Y'weren't y'self. I'm alright – already feelin' better." He said, and placed a hand reassuringly over hers.

"Can y'tell me what happened, _Chére_? I only know from de time you called me to now, but I made a few guesses what might've happened." He nodded over to the TV, which had moved on to another news story. "Dat girl have somethin' to do with it?"

"Yeah," Rogue whispered, swallowing heavily.

Remy scooted down the bed, and sat next to her, placing an arm around her shoulder. "Take y'time, _Chére_."

Rogue released a shaky breath, and leaned her head against his shoulder. "Ah was walkin' away from th'clinic, lookin' for a cab. Ah was gettin' ready t'call yah an' ask for a ride, an' then Ah saw a man shovin' a woman around – the woman on the news."

"He-he shot her, and took off. No one was helpin' her, so Ah went over. Figured what Ah learned from Annie might help. The girl, Carol, was already bleedin' really bad," Rogue said, shaking of her head bleakly. "Ah tried keeping pressure on it, an' tried t'get her to talk to me."

A tear leaked down her cheek. "She was a nice girl. When we talked it was almost like we were ol' friends catchin' up after not seein' each other for a while." Rogue said with a sad smile.

"She was a mutant, too. Her dad was forcin' her t'take the Cure. Ah tol' her Ah was too, b'cause she seemed scared Ah'd stop helpin' her when Ah found out. Her dad had her wearin' a collar that stopped her powers – if it wasn't for that, the bullet would've smashed up when it hit her like it did me," she said, touching her abdomen absently.

"Ah think the bullet hit an artery or somethin', because she started coughin' up a lot of blood, an' looked like she was gonna pass out. Then she touched me." Rogue said, a look of wonder on her face. "She deliberately grabbed onto mah wrist an' let me absorb her. Ah didn' realize what she'd done 'till it was too late, an' she kept hold until she died."

Rogue glanced up at Remy. "Ah could feel her thoughts – she wanted it t'happen 'cause she was in so much pain, an' scared of dyin' like that. She wanted t'die her own way instead of 'cause of what her father had done to her."

Remy kept silent when she took a deep breath to begin talking again.

"After that, all her memories flew through mah head, an' Ah was so confused. Ah ran, an' ran, an' eventually, Ah realized that Ah was just watchin' mahself run. Ah tried to stop, but it was like someone else was controllin' me. Ah think it was Carol. When her mind came in, she saw mah own memories an' couldn' tell who she was, an' Ah had a hard time rememberin' at th'same time. Ah had to fight her every step, get her t'call you t'help me. Ah managed to get control over mah hand, an' eventually mah body, but we kept switchin' back an' forth."

"Ah felt like Ah was goin' crazy, bein' two people at once. An' then y'came an' saved me, an' Ah remembered. An' Ah hit yah…" Rogue said, trailing of guiltily. She reached out again to touch the large bruise visible where he hadn't tugged his shirt down the rest of the way.

He snagged her bare hand in his gloved one. "Don' touch me."

Rogue felt a stab of hurt in her chest at his words. - Was he turning away like Bobby had now that he knew what she was capable of? Was he afraid of her? - She started to turn her face away from him.

Remy winced when he heard how that came out, and saw the hurt look flash over Rogue's face. He grabbed her face in his gloved hands, and turned her head to look up at him. "I didn' mean it dat way, _Chére_. I jus' wanna wait 'till you talk to de Prof an' he makes sure you're alright. I don' wanna shove my memories into you while you're recoverin', an' accidentally make things worse. If you thought you were goin' crazy wit' Carol in your head, you'd t'ink you're downright nuts wit' me in dere."

Rogue nodded, a smile coming to her face, a warm feeling in her stomach at the depth of thought he'd put into it. "Good point." She said softly. "Where are mah gloves then?"

Remy nodded to where he'd tossed them on the floor, and she blanched slightly at the sight of them as she recalled pressing her hands to Carol. "Don' think you'll be wearin' dem anymore. I'll get you some of my own t'wear. Speakin' of dat, though, you look a mess, _Chére_." Remy said, pulling reluctantly away. "Wait here."

Rogue nodded, the memories still fresh in her mind. Remy came back a minute later to find her still staring blankly at the gloves.

He set down a bowl of warm water on the nightstand, and dipped a washcloth in it. He took one of her hands and began to gently scrub at the red stains still visible there.

As he finished with her hands, she finally looked up at him, her face so full of sadness that he wanted nothing more than to try his damndest to kiss it all away. He rinsed the cloth again in the bowl, and then began to wipe away the blood on her face – dried droplets as well as several smears from where she'd touched her face with her still-bloody gloves.

She smiled gratefully at him, and he felt an almost electric tension between them as he brushed a thumb lightly over her lips. He forced himself not to act – not to lean forward and kiss her like he wanted to. Besides being so soon after she'd found Bobby kissing another girl, his concerns about adding his memories to her while she recovered still stood in his mind.

He pulled his thumb away and finished cleaning up her face. He glanced over her shirt and the knees of her pants, also stained from the previous day. "You need somethin' to wear, _Chére_," he said, and she looked down at her clothes as well.

Remy placed the washcloth back into the bowl, and stepped back. "Find y'self somethin' an' get changed – I got some stuff in th'dresser dere," he said, pointing at the dresser along the wall. "I'll go get breakfast b'fore it gets too cold, while y'change."

When Rogue nodded and moved toward the dresser, he exited the room, closing the door behind him. Rogue pulled several drawers open, and laughed when she found most of them were filled with poker and motorcycle t-shirts. She grabbed one shirt that caught her eye, but couldn't find much that fit her. She finally settled for a pair of boxer shorts she found in a bottom drawer.

* * *

Remy knocked softly on the bedroom door, and then opened it. He saw the bathroom door was closed, and Rogue was not in sight, so he walked into the room and placed the two plates on the bed, and set their glasses on the nightstand.

He turned at the sound of the bathroom door opening, and felt his breath catch in his chest when he saw Rogue. She was wearing a loose long-sleeved shirt that was baggy enough and long enough that it nearly reached down to cover up the boxer shorts she had slipped on. The sight of her wearing one of his shirts was… amazing, he thought to himself, but was nothing compared to seeing her long, bare legs stretching down below it.

He mentally smacked himself upside the head, and forced his gaze from her legs – he'd never seen her expose so much bare skin – and upward to her face. She was blushing, having seen his gaze, and he shot a slight grin at her.

He threw his head back in laughter as his eyes reached her shirt, when he realized which shirt she'd picked out. On the front were the words "I like…" in white lettering, and beneath it was a picture of a Jack of Hearts next to a King of Clubs.

Rogue looked at him as if he'd lost it, and it only made him laugh harder. She put her hands to her hips and glared at him. "What's so funny?" She demanded.

"Y-your shirt!" He said, in between laughs. "You don' know what it means?"

She glanced down at it in confusion and looked up at him again. "No," she said. "Ah thought it just meant Ah like poker hands….." She said, trailing off uncertainly. Obviously there was something more to it.

Remy slowly calmed his laughter. "_Chére_, remember I tol' you cards like that wit' a hearts an' a club are called 'off-suit'?" She nodded. "Well, most people just say de name of de pair an' den de word 'off' after it. So read it like dat wit' de name of de cards."

Rogue looked down at the shirt, and slowly read it out. "I like… Jack King off." Rogue clamped a hand over her mouth, and blushed heavily.

"Oh mah God," she said with a groan.

Remy chuckled and patted her on the shoulder. "It's alrigh', Rogue, I won' tell anyone. Ev'ryone likes jackin' off, even if dey don' wanna admit it."

Rogue buried her face in her hands and ignored him.

Remy finally wrapped an arm around her shoulder, and bent close to whisper into her ear. "I'm jus' teasin' you _Chére._"

Rogue looked up at him, her face still red. "Ah know, Remy. Ah'm jus' embarrassed."

Remy squeezed her shoulder. "Ain' nothin' to be embarrassed about." He said, and paused for a moment to look at her with a smirk. "Evry'one's got needs." He said with a devilish laugh.

Rogue looked upward in exasperation trying to hide a small smile. "Ah'm not gonna live this down with yah, am Ah?" She said, and swatted at his chest.

Remy hid a wince – she certainly still had Carol's powers, he thought to himself as the muscles of his chest groaned in protest at the bruising swat. "_Non_, you aren't, _Chére_. C'mon, why don' you pick out another shirt for y'self, _hein_?"

Rogue smiled and went back to his dresser, grabbing the other shirt that had caught her attention, before she walked to the bathroom again. She emerged moments later, and walked back to Remy. "This better?" She said, now feigning exasperation.

He looked down at the white cotton shirt and nodded, grinning. It displayed a picture of a credit card and next to that, in black lettering, it said: "Poker book – $20….. Entry fee – $150…..Taking all your chips and watching you cry like a little girl – PRICELESS."

"Much better, Rogue," he said, gesturing for her to sit down on the bed.

Rogue smiled and picked up one of the plates, biting into a slice of toast. "Thanks for this, Remy," she said softly between mouthfuls. "Ah really needed this time away from everyone t'get mah head straight." His teasing her over the shirt had almost completely taken her mind off of everything that had happened the last day, which made the time away even better.

He nodded and looked up at her, forcing himself to stop shooting glances at her legs which she'd folded in front of her 'Indian-style' on the bed as she ate. "Glad y'doin' better, _Chére_. Y'scared me dere for a bit when you couldn't remember me."

"Well, Ah'm glad Ah do now," she said softly, giving him a shy smile.

* * *

Mikaela Creed smiled at her husband as he held the door of the limo open for her. Graydon climbed in and sat opposite of her in the seat. Graydon popped open a bottle of wine and poured a glass for each of them, and sat back as the car rumbled into motion, admiring his wife as she sipped from the glass.

Mikaela was the daughter of a wealthy oil baron from Norway who had married an American woman and moved to the States with her, managing his oil and natural gas company from afar. Mikaela had inherited stereotypical 'Nordic' features – her pale skin, tall stature, high cheekbones, pale blue eyes, and straight blond hair – from her father. She looked more in her early thirties than the 42 that she was – only a year younger than Graydon himself.

They'd been apart for nearly a week – she'd been campaigning for him in Pennsylvania while he'd been focusing on other states and a more country-wide campaign. According to the most recent polls, she had drummed up a large amount of female and male support for him in the state.

She'd presented her strong personality and her history of support for women's rights and equality, and had attracted many other women who hoped that she would influence her husband in a large part on those issues. As far as Graydon could tell, the upswing of male support was likely due to her attractiveness more than her support for women's equality.

Graydon had arrived in Philadelphia last night and he'd treated her to a dinner downtown. Today she would be 'introducing' him for a large speech in downtown Philadelphia, and then they would go together to a number of smaller rallies in several smaller towns along the Pennsylvanian countryside.

The state was of major significance to Creed – not only would he have a comfortable lead for the nomination if the current poll trends remained true for the Pennsylvania primaries, he also felt that he may be able to win the state on Election Day, or at the very least give the Democratic candidate a long fight in the state to try to eke out a narrow win while Graydon focused on other states.

Graydon leaned forward in his seat and flipped on the satellite radio, scrolling through stations until he reached CNN, and a man's voice echoed in the speakers along the doors of the limo.

"– _mutant Cure. A large number of anti-mutant groups have come out vocally over the past several days on the issue of the cure. Reverend Matthew Risman of the Church of Humanity – a fundamentalist Christian organization that has experienced a more than quadrupling of its membership in recent years – had this to say:"_

"_**The Church of Humanity, despite the disparaging claims against us, is not 'racist', or 'bigoted'. We simply believe that this sudden outpouring of these mutants is a result of the depraved state our nation is in. It is a result of our nation which is tolerating the murdering millions of innocent unborn babies each year, allowing gays and lesbians to 'marry' in many of our states, teaching depraved theories of death to our children in our science classes, and secularizing our nation."**_

"_**The mutant problem is God's punishment upon our nation for allowing ourselves to fall so low. These mutants are God's creatures, just like us. And He has now provided us with this Cure to remove this affliction from them. He has given us a chance to start turning from our sinful ways, a way to overcome this affliction and return our nation to the Christian Principles on which it was founded. And so we must encourage these mutants to take this Cure and begin our climb out of this pit of sin we have fallen into." **_

_"A more radical group, called Humanity Now, is based in Texas. One of our reporters interviewed Jack Abrams, the vice-president of Humanity Now – here is a sound clip from that interview:"_

_"__**Mutants have been proclaiming for years since they revealed themselves that they are no different than the rest of us, and that they should not be treated any differently. And yet this Cure proves that they truly were, and are, different from us, but that that difference can be erased with a simple injection. So we have to ask: why do all these mutants not want to take the Cure so that they can truly not be treated differently. They say one thing to get support and sympathy for themselves, and yet can't walk their talk when they have the chance." **_

"_**We are bringing forward a petition to our lawmakers here in Texas to create a bill limiting the reproductive rights of these mutants – we currently have one million five hundred and fifty thousand signatures on our petition to the Texas State Legislature, and hope they will bring it to a vote in the coming months. These 'people' are allowed to breed more of their kind every day, both within their own movement, and within relations with the rest of us. Their breeding with normal humans seems to be part of their agenda to spread their mutant genes to as many as possible." **_

"_**Each time that a child is born, there is always the remote chance that that child will become a criminal in their future. What happens when a future rapist discovers they have these telepathic powers and can simply erase their actions from their victim's memory? What happens when a future bank robber discovers they can walk through walls or explode any material or manipulate metal? What happens when that child destined to become a serial killer discovers they have mutant abilities, and you end up with not a dozen people dead, but hundreds or thousands – whole cities – slaughtered with the same effort an ordinary serial killer puts into their murderous work?"**_

"_**We don't need such enormous ticking time-bombs waiting to explode. We've already seen what a mutant terrorist like Magneto can do, or the one that attacked the President months ago, and we can't sit idly by as more are born each day." **_

"_**Mutants that refuse to take this cure should not be allowed to reproduce. The Proposition we ask our lawmakers to pass proposes making genetic testing mandatory of the children of both mutants and humans at young infancy so that the Cure may be administered early to avoid scenarios like the ones I spelled out from occurring and bringing harm to the citizens of this country."**_

Graydon exchanged a satisfied glance with his wife. The anti-mutant groups were performing their parts flawlessly – this sort of anti-mutant atmosphere was exactly what he needed to solidify his nomination.

The anchorman continued:_"After the break, several of our political analysts from both parties will be here to analyze and debate the statements made by these groups."_

"_Before we go to commercial break, in related news…."_

* * *

"– _related news, last evening, the city of San Francisco was rocked by a large explosion downtown. A hospital that openly welcomed both humans and mutants into its doors for treatment was gutted by an enormous explosion. The explosion weakened the lower floor, and it collapsed, leaving the second and third floors at ground level. Firefighters tried to put out the blaze that started after the explosion, but the upper floors were destroyed by the fires."_

"_Thirty-four patients and staff were able to escape the upper stories before the blaze broke out, and search teams are still looking through the rubble for survivors. Current estimates place the amount of people killed at over three-hundred. The children's ward was located on the ground floor, and police tell us they do not think any in the ward survived."_

"_A local news station received a letter from an anti-mutant terrorist group called the 'Purifiers', which claimed responsibility for the attack, naming the hospital's mutant policy as the reason for the bombing. This group has also claimed responsibility for other attacks on mutants and those sympathetic to mutants, across the country over the past four months. We'll discuss about this, and more, with our analysts after this break."_

Magneto crumpled the metal dish into an unrecognizable lump as the station went to a commercial break. One of the things about being able to manipulate metal was that it was easy to modify a radio with your own dish to pick up such stations, even in the wilderness.

"This is just the beginning," he said to those gathered around him. "These acts will escalate as people clamor for us to take their 'Cure' until finally we are put into camps and forced to be injected."

Several of those around him nodded. They had been picked up at the church meeting days before – four in particular showed some promise of being leaders. A young woman whose fashion sense left her with an almost androgynous appearance went by the name Arclight, and was able to create enormous shockwaves that could resonate on certain frequencies and shatter objects – she seemed to be content with following, but he believed she could shine in a leadership role.

The second, a young Asian woman who called herself 'Psylocke', had telepathic abilities and was able to travel through shadows. The third was a cocky Chinese-American man who called himself 'Quill', referring to the razor-sharp quills he could extend along every inch of his body.

The most promising was a young Dominican woman named Callisto who possessed super-speed, and the valuable ability of being able to locate mutants almost as well as Charles' Cerebro could: something would soon come in handy, Eric thought to himself.

He glanced to Callisto, putting the bombing from his mind. "You have located her?"

She nodded confidently. "She wasn't difficult to find. They're moving her in some sort of convoy in this direction. All we need to do is wait for them to show up – they're moving down this highway," she said, gesturing toward the highway a dozen yards from where they sat hidden in the forest.

"Shouldn't be more than five minutes until they're here. And –" Callisto paused a moment, closing her eyes in concentration. "She's not the only mutant they're holding prisoner. There are several more with her – one of them is very strong, nearly a Class 4."

Eric looked at her with satisfaction. "Very well. Let's prepare a welcome for them, shall we?" He said with a small smile, striding toward the road.

* * *

Remy stopped off briefly at Dan's pawn shop on their drive back to the mansion to drop the key to his apartment back off with him. Rogue remained in the car, not really dressed for walking in public, and Remy was inside for only a few minutes before returning to the car with a large smile on his face.

"Friend of yours?" Rogue asked him as he turned the key in the ignition, nodding toward Dan who waved to Remy from the door of his shop.

Remy nodded and shot back a quick wave before he glanced over his shoulder and pulled the car out into traffic. "Good friend from back in Louisiana. He's been keepin' my apartment up for me while I've been out of the city."

"What made yah decide t'get a place here in New York?" She asked curiously.

Remy shrugged. "My work for de Guild. Lots of stealin' to do here in New York, an' lots of shady contacts t'make wit' other criminal organizations. I got a smaller place down in D.C., too. Didn' use my reg'lar identities to buy either of dem, so dey should be plenty safe from people findin' out I ain' dead."

Rogue looked over at him, a curious expression on her face. "How did y'get me away from the police last night? Ah remember hearin' yah talkin' to them, but Ah didn' recognize your voice – yah sounded so diff'rent."

Remy smiled. "You mean like this?" He asked her, without a hint of accent.

Rogue looked at him in amazement. "That's pretty handy, Ah'll bet."

Remy nodded. "Yeah. Can be a bit tough t'not slip into m'normal accent, but if I focus I c'n pull it off."

He reached into his pocket and slipped out his badge he'd used the previous day, and handed it to her. "An' dis is what let me get you out."

Rogue's eyes widened, and she gasped. "S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"_Oui_. Just had t'flash dis, an' tell him dat you were one of our agents in our superhuman section dat was havin' problems wit' y'powers, an' he practically tossed you to me."

"Where'd yah get this?"

He looked slyly at her. "Well y'see, I'm really an undercover S.H.E.I.L.D. operative," he said.

She looked at him with narrowed eyebrows for a moment and shook her head. "Yeah right, Remy." She said, laughing.

Remy sighed and pouted at her. "Sounds a lot better den me jus' sayin' a friend of mine put together a fake S.H.I.E.L.D badge for me."

Rogue laughed. "Yeah, it does."

Remy glanced over his shoulder and punched the gas, swerving around a much slower driver in the lane ahead of him. As he drove, he didn't push anywhere close to the speeds he'd been driving at on the way in, but he still kept the car going at around ten miles an hour over the limit.

As Remy reached the limits of the city, the congestion reduced, and he no longer had to weave in and out of traffic, merely settling for cruising past other cars in the left-most lane.

He glanced at Rogue as they came close to the mansion – the gates just visible in the distance, and let the car slow. She hadn't spoken much on the ride back after they left Dan's pawn shop – she just stared out the window and seemed to be deep in thought.

He reached out and touched one of her hands, and she jumped and looked over at him. "We don' hafta go back yet if you're not ready, Rogue. I c'n turn de car around right now, an' we can stay at my apartment as long as y'want."

Her face cycled through several emotions, and for a moment he thought she was going to say that she wanted him to. Finally she just gave a sad smile. "Thanks, Remy, but Ah need t'do this. Ah want t'least talk ta Logan an' then talk to the Professor an' make sure Ah'm alright. But if – if it gets too weird, can Ah take yah up on that?" She asked softly.

Remy nodded, and patted her hand, bringing the car back up to speed. "'Course, Rogue. Y'tell me an' I'll grab Sarah, an' de three of us can stay dere."

Rogue's posture relaxed slightly at his promise, but tensed once more when they passed through the gates and drove into the garage. Remy nimbly hopped out of the car, and was on her side, helping her out before she'd even had the chance to open the door. He tossed the keys onto the work bench where he'd found them, and walked inside with her.

Rogue moved closer to Remy, the barest inches from brushing his shoulder with hers, and pointedly ignored the number of young students that peered at them curiously as they walked down the hall. Rogue blushed when she remembered what she was wearing, and quickened her pace to the stairs.

On the third floor, she stopped near her bedroom door. "Ah'll be right out, then let's go see th'Professor," she said, looking at Remy.

He nodded, and leaned back casually against the wall outside her room. Rogue opened her door and was about to enter, when she heard someone call her name from down the hall.

Dani and Jubilee rushed over to her, both looking at her with concern. "You're back!" Jubilee said.

"Are you okay?" Dani asked her.

Rogue nodded, and gave them a smile that looked slightly forced. "Yeah. Let me get some clothes on, an' we c'n talk then." She said, stepping backwards into her room, closing the door as she did.

Remy crossed his arms over his chest, and glanced at the two girls.

"Is she alright?" Dani asked him quietly, moving closer to him.

Remy gave a shrug. "Mostly. Prof's gonna see if dere's anythin' hidden, but she seems t'be doin' okay. Jus' don' mention dat _putain, _Icecreep, an' I t'ink she'll be alright."

* * *

Rogue was in her room for only a few minutes before she emerged, wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt with elbow-length sleeves, and a fresh pair of gloves. She smiled at Dani and Jubilee.

"Ah'm alright, really. Thank yah for bein' so worried 'bout me." She said to them, and then froze, her body stiffening when she looked over their shoulders.

While Remy had been talking to the girls and Rogue had exited the room, Bobby had spotted them and walked up behind them. He pushed past Remy, and stood hesitantly in front of Rogue. "Rogue, I- I'm sor-"

Rogue cut him off. "Get lost, Bobby, Ah don' wanna even see yah face right now."

He reached out toward one of her hands. "Please, Rogue, I just want to say-"

"Don't touch me. Y'can't 'handle' it, remember?" She snarled bitterly. "Jus' get away from me Bobby," she said, shoving at his chest to get him away. Bobby's eyes widened with shock when he was shoved backward nearly ten feet, tripping and falling on his backside.

Rogue grabbed Remy's hand, and stormed off down the hall. "C'mon, let's go see the Professor."

Remy stumbled over his feet as she yanked him along the hall, and managed an apologetic wave back at Jubilee and Dani as Rogue dragged him along with extraordinary strength.

As she pulled him down the stairs, he regained his balance and was able to catch up with her. "_Chére_, I'm goin' wit' you, can you let up on de grip?" He said, a hint of pain in his voice as he looked down to where her hand gripped his wrist tightly, feeling the bones of his wrist grinding together ominously. "Yer gonna break somethin'."

That snapped her out of her march, and she quickly stopped walking and let go of him, looking at him apologetically. He gingerly rubbed his wrist, eyeing the bruise that was already beginning to form.

Rogue gasped when she saw it, and a hand went to her mouth. "Ah'm so sorry, Remy!"

He shook his head, fighting off a grimace as the blood flowed back into his hand. "Ain' no problem, Rogue. Jus' remember y'still got Carol's powers in you, so you're stronger den you're used to."

Rogue nodded, looking abashed. "Ah jus' couldn' stand being there with Bobby, an' listenin' to him…" She trailed off, a tear sliding down her cheek.

He smiled and took her hand with his own that she'd been gripping earlier. "You don' need t'explain. Let's go see de Prof, only dis time a bit slower, alright?"

At the bottom of the stairs, Remy saw Ororo and Sarah at about the same time they saw him. Sarah took off, running toward them, and he braced himself for what was becoming her signature leaping hug, but he was surprised when she instead threw her arms around Rogue's neck. Rogue easily caught her and lifted her with her new strength.

Sarah pulled her head back and looked at Rogue with concern. "Are you alright, Rogue? Did you get hurt?"

Rogue smiled at her, surprise evident on her face. "Ah'm alright, sweetie. Ah'm not hurt, an' Ah think Ah'll be okay." She leaned her head closer, but was careful not to touch her skin-to-skin. "Remy took care of me."

Sarah grinned up at her. "He's good at doin' that, isn't he?" She whispered back.

Rogue nodded, and set Sarah back down, and Sarah turned to Remy, looking at him worriedly.

Remy knelt down and pulled her into a hug. "Don' worry, y'ain' gonna hurt me, _petite_. I didn' get shot or anythin' like dat. Jus' had a little run in wit' some garbage cans."

As Sarah giggled into his shoulder, Ororo placed a hand on Rogue's shoulder. "I'm glad you're okay. After we heard what you said to Remy on the phone we were all worried about you."

Remy stood up, releasing Sarah. "Rogue's gonna talk wit' Charles, an' den why don' we get some lunch together, _hein_?"

Sarah nodded, and moved back to stand by Ororo, and Remy and Rogue turned toward Xavier's office.

* * *

Xavier called them in as Rogue raised her hand to knock at the door.

"Rogue, it is good to see you back here. Please, come in." He greeted her with a warm smile.

Rogue moved forward, and sat down on one of the chairs in front of Charles. Remy slowly started to back away and excuse himself, but she grabbed his hand, taking care not to accidentally crush it. "Could you stay, Remy?" Rogue asked, almost shyly. "Ah'd feel better 'bout goin' over what happened."

Remy glanced at Xavier, and then nodded, taking the seat next to her, and squeezed her hand. "Yeah, 'course I'll stay for y'_Chére_."

Charles moved from behind his desk, directing his wheelchair around it until he was directly in front of Rogue. "Why don't we start with what happened, and then check you out?"

Remy squeezed her hand, and she began, haltingly, to tell the events of the previous evening. As she finished, Xavier nodded. "Let's check your mind, shall we?"

Rogue took a deep breath, and nodded back, and he placed a hand on her arm. She closed her eyes, and felt the slightest bit of pressure in her mind as he entered.

Xavier found a landscape much changed from their last session. While before her mind had been chaotic, a jumble of other memories, it now looked as if it had been seared clean, with the jumble shoved into a small area.

Each person's mindscape looked different, and was created partly by that person's personality, and their unconscious mind. Rogue's mindscape took on the appearance of a forest, her jumble of memories that had been there represented as a tangled up undergrowth choking out the trees, had covered the ground completely when he'd last visited. Now, it looked as if someone had torn through the undergrowth with a chainsaw and fought it back to a small clearing where the jumble now sat.

The trunks of the large trees looked as if they had had large amounts of bark torn away during the process. As he moved further in, he soon found the image of a young, blond-haired woman leaning against the towering pile of undergrowth, crying softly with her face in her hands.

Xavier paused, and focused, and suddenly Rogue found herself standing next to him. She looked around in shock. "Where am Ah, Professor?" She asked.

"This is your mind, Rogue. I've brought your conscious mind into this representation of your inner mind. It seems the memories that used to plague you have been torn apart and placed here in this single location."

Rogue caught sight of the woman. "That's Carol!" She said in surprise.

Charles nodded. "Yes. The way you described your absorption, I believe you have taken in enough of her that she may very well be a permanent fixture of your mind. I brought you in here so that you may speak to her, make peace with her, and perhaps get her help in healing the damage here."

Rogue nodded, and walked hesitantly forward, reaching the small clearing where Carol sat. She slowly sat down next to her, and touched her on the arm. "Carol?" She said softly.

Carol's head snapped up, and she looked at Rogue in surprise. Her eyes brightened in recognition. "R-Rogue!" She exclaimed, throwing her arms around her neck.

"I'm so, so sorry, Rogue. I didn't realize exactly what I would be doing to you by making you absorb me. I got so confused when I got in here, and I took control of your body."

She pulled back and looked down. "I was afraid you hated me for doing it, and you'd just leave me in here by myself."

Rogue's eyes widened, and she placed a hand on her shoulder. "No, Carol. Ah understand. Ah could feel your thoughts an' Ah know why you touched me. Ah don' hate yah for it. An'…. Ah'm glad Ah could help yah."

She crossed her arms over her chest, and leaned back against the undergrowth. "Ah've – Ah've always viewed mah power as a curse, an' now yah showed me how it can be somethin' _good_." She said, looking at Carol with an unreadable expression on her face.

Carol nodded. "I think we actually have a lot in common. I've always thought of my powers as something bad, although not for the same reason as you."

"Yeah, Ah guess we kinda do." Rogue said with a sad smile. "But Ah think while mah dad might've been scared of mah powers, but he never would've done the things yah said yours did."

Carol sighed, and then spoke with a shaky voice. "So… I'm dead out there?"

Rogue nodded. "Yeah," she said sadly. "Ah wish Ah could have helped you more…."

Carol shook her head. "You did. This…. you kept a piece of me alive here in your mind. I'll miss the chance of serving in the Air Force, but I won't miss what my dad put me through, how he treated me."

Charles cleared his throat softly, and Rogue and Carol looked up at him – Carol seeing him for the first time, and Rogue remembering now the other reason he'd brought her in.

"Who's that?" Carol asked, looking almost frightened, his psychic presence on Rogue's mindscape was so imposing to her.

"He's one of mah professors. He's a mutant like us, an' he's th'one that helped me get here t'talk to yah. Don' worry, he won't hurt yah."

"Hello, Carol." Xavier said with a friendly smile. "I was wondering if we might have your help in healing Rogue's mind. When she absorbed so much of you, it ripped through her mind here, damaging it somewhat."

"It seems by absorbing you, aside from the damage, you've ripped out most of her absorbed memories and placed them here where you are sitting, and if it means what I think, you may have made a bigger step in helping her to control her abilities than I've ever been able to."

Rogue felt her breath catch for a moment at his words. "Really?"

Xavier nodded. "If you two can find a way to work together and heal this," he said, touching a nearby damaged tree trunk, "and keep the undergrowth – the other psyches and memories – from taking over again, I think it may be what you need to jump-start your control. Now, it won't be instantaneous or anything, but I think it will be a large step."

"The trees represent your own memories, Rogue, and your own consciousness and your powers and control over your body. Before, all those choking vines and bushes behind you, which represent those you've absorbed, were strangling the trees. I'd considered blasting away at it like this, but I had feared I would damage your mind too much, and you would be unable to recover."

"And now, it seems your mind has done it for you, and you now have a strong mind within your own that could help you keep it under control," he said, looking over to Carol.

Rogue looked hesitantly to Carol. "Will you…"

Carol reached out and squeezed Rogue's shoulder. "I'll help." She looked at Rogue hesitantly. "I was wondering if you could do something for me, too?"

Rogue nodded, a smile of relief on her face. "Sure."

"This weekend, could you – could you go to Boston and talk to my mom, let her know I loved her and don't blame her for…. everything that happened?"

Rogue's eyes softened, and she glanced at Xavier, and he gave a small nod. "Of course, Carol. Ah'll go for yah. An' – if yah want Ah'll let yah talk to her y'self, if the Professor thinks that won't mess me up any more."

Xavier shook his head. "So long as you willingly let her control your body for a short time, I don't believe it will harm either of you."

Carol smiled gratefully at Rogue. "Alright then. How do we start?" She asked, looking around at the vast forest.

Xavier smiled. "Well, given that her mind has created this sort of landscape, I think it would be good to stick with the analogy it has created for itself. How would you heal trees with this sort of damage?"

Rogue bit her lip. "Ah'd probably cover up th'stripped areas with cloth, an' make sure they get a lot of fertilizer an' water. That's what mah Gran used t'do when animals tore th'bark off of her trees."

Xavier nodded. "This is your mind, Rogue, all you need to do is think about what you need and it should appear for you."

She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, several rolls of cloth and buckets of fertilizer lay on the ground in front of them, along with a long hose that disappeared from sight behind a distant tree.

"Well….. let's get started, Ah guess…." Rogue said and hesitantly picked up one of the cloths and unrolled it. Carol grabbed one end and Rogue grabbed the other, and they began to wind it around one of the tree trunks, securing it in place with a knot. They dug up some of the soil around the roots and added fertilizer to it, and left the hose on to water it as they moved on to the next tree.

They'd repeated their work on over a dozen trees, when Rogue wiped sweat from her forehead, and leaned against the tree, looking bleakly at the enormous forest in front of them. It looked endless, trees disappearing into the distance.

"This is a lot harder than Ah thought it'd be," she said, looking over to Carol.

"And there's so much more to do," Carol groaned wearily.

Charles appeared at their side, and smiled at the two of them. "You didn't think this would be simple, did you?" He asked with humor evident in his voice. "The human mind is an immense thing. Such widespread damage caused first by other psyches and then by the scouring of those psyches will take quite some time to heal and recover from."

He closed his eyes, and Rogue and Carol felt _something_ tickle in the backs of their minds. "But, you have made progress, and if you two continue sessions like this every day, I believe you will soon be on the way to full healing, Rogue."

"I've just set up a… let's call it a psychic bridge between your conscious mind and this mindscape, Rogue, so that you will not require me to help you enter this mindscape – you can come here at any time. Now, we have been in here for nearly an hour, and I believe Mister LeBeau has begun to worry about us," he said, glancing to Rogue.

Rogue's eyes widened, and she nodded. "Ah didn't realize we'd been here so long…."

She turned to Carol. "Ah better get goin'. Ah – maybe we can try this again tonight?"

Carol smiled. "Sure."

Rogue hesitantly pulled her into a brief hug. "Thanks, Carol."

The mindscape began to fade when Rogue pulled back, as Xavier began to pull them out of her mind and back into the real world.

Rogue shuddered, and blinked rapidly when she felt herself return. She smiled to herself when she felt Remy still grasping her hand and as everything came into focus to her eyes, she looked over at him.

"You okay, _Chére_?" He asked, worry in his voice.

Rogue smiled widely, and nodded. "Yeah, Remy. Ah think Ah am…." She said and for the first time, she realized, she felt like it was true.

* * *

_**A/N: Well, there it is, hope you enjoyed. Tried to put a bit more detail into the various anti-mutant groups – the spokespersons for each are characters in the comics, although Risman is the leader of the Purifiers in the comics (after Stryker dies), not the Church of Humanity, and Abrams is also a Purifier in the comics (Humanity Now is a new organization in the series I believe, and I have only read the summaries of the recent comics with them causing riots and such). **_

_**Next chapter, we'll still be seeing more Rogue/Carol interaction, and Rogue trying to come to grasp with her new powers. Probably see Xavier attending the debates on the weekend and trying to get a glimpse into Creed's mind. Depending how long the chapter gets, either in this next one or the one after, we will see the first big step into Rogue/Remy officially starting a relationship. Either way next chap should have a lot of Romy.**_

_**See you guys next time!**_


	15. Chapter 15: Spark

_**Disclaimer: X-men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway ;) I also don't own John King or CNN!**_

_A/N: Hey everyone, back again with another chapter. Lots of Romy this chap (let's face it, pretty much every one from her out will have it!), with development of their relationship. Bit more Magneto and Creed, a little science lesson from the Professor, and more!_

_Thanks, everyone for the feedback last chap. Please Read, Review, and Enjoy!_

**Chapter 15: Spark**

* * *

Rogue glanced away from Remy and over to Xavier. "Do yah think Ah'm okay now? Would it be safe if Ah were to…. touch someone?"

Charles nodded. "I believe so. With the way your mind has changed, I think it may be easier for you to handle each absorption. During your sessions you may need to clear up any new growths after you touch someone, but the hard work was already done by Carol's absorption."

Rogue smiled, and thanked him for his help before standing from her seat. Remy, somewhat reluctantly, released her hand and stood up as well.

Outside the office, Rogue glanced over to Remy. "Hey, Remy? Ah was wonderin' if you'd come to Boston with me this weekend."

"Boston?" Remy asked, a puzzled expression on his face. "As in Boston, Massachusetts? Why you wanna go dere?"

"It's for Carol," she explained. "We talked to each other while the Professor an' Ah were in mah head. She wants t'say goodbye to her mom, an' I was thinkin' I'd go there on Sunday."

Remy's eyes widened in understanding, and he nodded. "Sure, _Chére_, I'll come wit' you if you wan' me to."

Rogue smiled widely. "Thanks."

As they rounded the corner, Rogue saw Logan leaning against the wall further down the hall. She grabbed Remy's arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Remy, Ah'm gonna talk to Logan, you go on ahead without me."

Remy nodded and looked down at her. "Alrigh'. I'm gonna be makin' lunch in a bit, so come to de kitchen when you're done."

Rogue smiled and released his arm, stopping next to Logan while Remy continued into the entry hall. "Logan." Rogue said softly, her voice shaky – her emotions she'd been holding back coming to the forefront.

Logan took one look at her, and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, leading her out the garage door, and then out the back of the garage into the back yard. "You alright?" Logan asked.

Rogue leaned her head against his shoulder and sniffled. "Ah'm gettin' there. Ah absorbed too much of someone, an' Ah just needed time ta get used to it. The Professor helped me get started healin' mah mind."

Logan nodded, and they sat down on a bench. "This person….. were they tryin' t'hurt ya?" He asked darkly.

Rogue shook her head. "No, Logan. Ah – a woman got shot, an' Ah tried t'help her. She was a mutant too, an' she was dyin', an' she touched me t'stop her pain. Now Ah've got a big piece of her in mah head, an' she's helpin' me heal. The Professor says it might even help me get control over mah powers."

Logan smiled, and squeezed her shoulder. "That's good news."

"Between mah healin' sessions, an' gettin' help from Remy, Ah'm startin' t'feel good about things."

Logan grunted. "Of course – the Cajun," he said, sounding disapproving.

"Logan," Rogue chided, "He's nice. Please don' be a jerk ta him."

Logan chuckled. "I'm jus' givin' you grief, darlin'," he said, nudging her shoulder with his own. "I know he's a good kid. I actually knew his dad, way back when."

Rogue looked up in surprise. "Really?"

He nodded. "He was jus' a reg'lar thief back then, startin' out, but Remy tells me he's th'leader of the Thieves Guild now. Jus' knowin' that he raised him, I'd know he's alright, but I've gotten to know the swamp rat a bit, too. Sorta reminds me of myself. Maybe even a bit more mature." He grinned.

Rogue laughed. "Well, that wouldn't take much." She said teasingly.

Logan growled and poked her in the side, and she let out a squeak and squirmed out from under his arm.

"You like him?" He asked her, suddenly serious.

"Yeah," Rogue said. "That's why Ah told yah t'be nice to him."

Logan shook his head. "Y'know what I mean, Rogue. Do you _like_ him?"

Rogue looked up, a slight blush visible on her cheeks. "Ah do. Ah like him a lot, an' Ah've been wonderin' – 'specially the last day or so – what it'd be like ta be with him." She said with a soft smile, before looking reprovingly at Logan. "An' don't yah go tryin' t'scare him now."

Logan grinned. "Well, y'told me you think of me like a dad, an' what good father wouldn't give their daughter's boyfriend a scare?" He said innocently. "But don't worry. I already gave him th'threat of disembowelment if he hurts you, 'bout a week ago when I noticed he was sniffin' around."

Rogue rolled her eyes, but smiled warmly at Logan mentioning her comment of how she thought of him like a father. "Well then, Ah'm glad yah got that outta y'system." She said, hugging him.

Logan growled softly in the back of his throat. "Not all of it. Now I'm gonna hafta follow through with that threat on Bobby. Been too worried about you to disembowel him yet." He said darkly. "I can, if y'want me to."

Rogue tensed slightly at his mention of Bobby, and looked up. "No, don't hurt him. Ah – we woulda broke up anyway. It's just, the way Ah found out, seein' him kissin' Kitty, an' then the things he said, how Ah'd never find someone that would stay with me with mah touch….. Ah started believin' him, an' that's th'reason Ah went to get the cure."

Logan started to protest, but she shook her head. "Ah thought about it on mah way there, an' realized he was wrong. Some people, like you an' Remy, don' care 'bout mah powers. 'Fact, it was the bit of you Ah have in mah head that got me t'really think 'bout it." She said, smiling warmly up at him.

Logan smiled back, and kissed her forehead briefly. "Glad I helped."

He looked appraisingly at her. "Still, I could at least cut a few fingers off, or maybe some toes….." He said, smiling.

Rogue laughed. "No dismemberment. But… if yah wanted to maybe give him a scare for bein' such a jerk?" Rogue said, trailing off.

Logan nodded, sighing with fake disappointment. "I suppose I'll have to settle for that."

Rogue sighed contentedly, and leaned her head back on his shoulder once more. After a few minutes of them sitting silently together, she looked up to his eyes. "Logan, do y'think Remy likes me?"

Logan paused for a moment, stopping himself from saying 'what sort of idiot wouldn't?' – he felt that might not go over too well with her at the moment, given the whole Bobby situation.

He nodded, smiling down at her. "Yeah. Else I wouldn'ta given him the warning."

Rogue relaxed. "Ah thought so too, but Ah wanted t'be sure it's not just wishful thinkin' – me seein' only what Ah want t'see."

Logan shook his head. "It's not. The swamp rat is nuts about ya. Ya should've smelled the jealousy waftin' off of him whenever he saw you and Bobby together. I don' think you've got anythin' t'worry about on that front."

He paused. "An' from what you an' he have said, I take it you don' have anythin' to worry 'bout on the touching front either?"

Rogue beamed at him. "Nope. Y'should see him, Logan, when we work on gettin' mah control. He'll touch me 'till he near passes out, an' then he gets up an' does it all over again." She said, a look of amazement on her face. "The feelin' really doesn' bother him at all."

Logan nodded, and patted her head. "Good. Y'deserve someone like that."

* * *

Erik strode into the room where the others had gathered. Aside from those he'd recruited among those at the community meeting, he had two new additions – much older and harder, both experienced criminals – that he'd gained from their convoy attack

One of the mutants they'd recruited from the convoy was James Madrox, in there for robbing banks. He had the ability to split himself into an apparently limitless number multiple copies of himself.

The borderline Class 4 mutant had been the imposing figure that stood directly to his left. The man's name was Cain Marko, but he went by the moniker of 'Juggernaut'. Once he gained momentum he was, in theory at least, unstoppable.

Erik held up the 'cure gun' he'd retrieved from the convoy that had been carrying Mystique. "They've put the cure in a gun. I told you they would draw first blood. They will force this on us, and have already begun."

"What do we do? John asked.

"We will use this weapon as a lightning rod to bring more to our cause. Mystique sacrificed herself, and was struck down by this 'Cure' so that our cause may live on."

"They bomb a hospital containing innocent mutants; we will destroy their clinics distributing this 'Cure'." He said, and nodded imperceptibly to John, who had asked permission earlier to begin attacks on the Cure clinics.

John nodded back, and slowly backed away from the gathering, heading for the exit.

* * *

Bobby walked down the basement hallway from the exercise room, and froze when he heard a soft *SNIKT* behind him. He slowly turned to see Logan standing directly behind him, the adamantium claws quite visible from where they extended from the knuckles of one hand.

"Logan, what's up?" Bobby asked, feeling somewhat nervous as he eyed the sharp claws.

Logan growled. "You know 'what's up', Iceman." Logan said, moving menacingly closer until Bobby backed up into the wall of the hallway.

Logan waved his claws below Bobby's nose for a moment. "I hear you been cheatin' on Rogue. Hear you been sayin' some not-so-nice things 'bout her powers bein' part of the reason you were doin' it."

"Logan-" Bobby began, but Logan cut him off.

"Shut up, Iceman. You remember what I told you I'd do if y'ever broke Rogue's heart?" Logan asked, letting the adamantium run lightly along Bobby's stomach, causing him to suck in his breath and try to draw further into the wall.

"L-Logan, c'mon, we're teammates. You're not going to hurt me, are you? Listen, I'm sorry about what happened – I didn't mean for Rogue to find out that way. I didn't want to hurt her like that. Things just sorta got out of hand, and Rogue happened to see it."

Logan pressed his claws against him with a bit more force, and then retracted them, pinning Bobby with a glare. "You're lucky. I was just gonna gut ya and be done with it, but Rogue talked me out of it." He snarled. "But ya listen to me now. Leave her alone. If she asks ya to talk to her, fine. But until then, keep away from her. She's got enough trouble of her own without you coming up to her rubbing her nose in what you did to her."

Logan stepped back. "If you don't…." Both his claws sprang from his clenched fists again, and he looked meaningfully at them. "Got it?"

Bobby swallowed heavily and nodded, sagging against the wall in relief when Logan gave him a terse nod and walked away.

Logan smirked to himself – he could still smell the sharp scent of fear in the air when he reached the steps. Bobby wouldn't be bothering Rogue for quite some time, he thought with satisfaction.

* * *

A knock on Rogue's doorjamb caused her to look up from her desk where she was trying to finish up the work she'd missed the previous day when she went to the Clinic.

Dani stood in the open doorway, looking hesitantly in at Rogue. "Hey," she said quietly. "Can we talk?"

Rogue nodded, feeling a bit bad that she'd been avoiding Jubilee and Dani the past several hours after she'd stormed away from Bobby. She stood up and walked over to her bed. She sat down, and patted beside her, inviting Dani to join her.

Dani sat down, and looked carefully at Rogue. "Are you really ok, Rogue?"

Rogue sighed. "Is _everyone_ gonna ask me that now?" she muttered, but shot a smile to Dani to show she was just joking. "Yes, Dani, Ah'm okay."

She looked at her dubiously. "Even with….. you know – Bobby?"

Rogue shrugged. "Ah guess. Ah'm still pissed at him, but Ah guess Ah knew for a while now that it wasn't goin' to work out between us. It…hurt the way Ah found out, an' Ah'm not planning on forgivin' him anytime soon, but Ah'm doin' okay with it."

Dani nodded, and then shot her a sly look. "And, would the Cajun you spent the night in New York with last night have something to do with how 'okay' you are about it?"

"Maybe," she said with a small smile.

Dani grinned. "That's what I thought," she said smugly. "He asked you out yet, or does he not work that fast?"

Rogue flushed. "Dani! Ah swear, Jubes has corrupted you. No, he hasn't 'asked me out' yet. Ah had some….. power problems, an' we've hardly had time to even talk since last night. An' Ah'm not sure how fast Ah wanna move after Bobby anyway."

Dani put a hand on her shoulder. "I was just teasing you. And I'm certainly not as bad as Jubes is." She protested.

Rogue's eyes twinkled. "Y'gettin' pretty close, lately. Speakin' of Jubes, where is she? Ah thought shed've come with yah."

Dani's expression changed. "That was the other thing I came to talk to you about. She's keeping Kitty company. Kitty's pretty broken up about what happened – thinks you hate her now for what happened."

Rogue's eyes widened and she shook her head. "Ah don't. If Ah hated anyone it'd be Bobby, not Kitty."

Dani bounced to her feet and grabbed one of Rogue's hands. "Then tell her that. We've been trying to convince her, but she's been moping around all day."

Rogue allowed Dani to pull her to her feet and down the hall to Kitty's room.

Dani knocked on the door, causing Jubilee and Kitty to start. "Jubes, out here with me." Dani said.

Jubilee shut her laptop and got up, walking out into the hall. Rogue stepped hesitantly into the room, and Dani shut the door behind her.

Rogue noted that Kitty wasn't wearing even the slightest hint of makeup, and her face looked as if it had been scrubbed clean recently, so she figured she'd been crying.

Rogue gave her a tentative smile and sat down in Jubilee's vacated spot, and Kitty looked down at her lap, avoiding her gaze.

"I'm sorry," Kitty said quietly. "I'd take back what happened if I could. I didn't expect him to do that, and I'm so sorry that you had to see that."

Rogue shook her head. "Kitty, y'don' have anythin' t'be sorry 'bout. You didn' do anythin' – it was Bobby. Ah heard what y'told him, 'bout not wantin' to go behind mah back." Rogue sighed. "Ah don' hate yah, Kitty. We're still friends."

Kitty looked up hopefully. "Really?"

Rogue nodded, and quickly found herself engulfed in a hug.

"Thank you, Rogue," Kitty whispered shakily. "You're one of my best friends here, and I was worried I'd ruined that."

"Bobby might have, but you didn', Kitty."

Kitty nodded into her shoulder, and then pulled back, swiping at a lone tear on her cheek.

"Still friends?" Rogue asked, extending her hand.

"Still friends." Kitty said with a small smile, shaking Rogue's hand.

Kitty hesitantly spoke again. "Rogue, I told Bobby today that I'm not ready right now and I want to let everything cool down. I didn't think you'd want to see him fawning all over me right after… what you saw. I told him we'd see about trying it out after Break."

Rogue smiled slightly – Monday would be the start of the last week before their break, which was rather later than usual, with the first of May fast approaching at the end of their week-long break. "Thanks, Kitty. Ah think by then this'll have blown over, an' Ah might be able t'stand talkin' to him by then."

Kitty nodded. "That was sorta what I was thinking, too."

Rogue stood up. "Well, don' start any more mopin' 'round like Dani said you've been doin' t'day, okay? Ah've gotta catch up on some homework, an' then get some sleep, so Ah'll see yah later."

Kitty giggled and gave her a mock salute. "Okay, no more moping. Goodnight, Rogue."

* * *

_Rogue woke up when a weight next to her depressed the mattress, causing it to tilt slightly under her back. As her eyes opened, she nearly gasped when she saw Remy's red-on-black eyes looking back on her. They seemed to glow in the darkness of the room – the only other illumination coming from the light of the half-moon, streaming in through the open window of her balcony._

_Rogue sat up, the movement bringing her face closer to his. He smelled of tobacco and cloves, and his eyes seemed to darken as she sat up. "What's wrong, Remy?" She asked him softly._

"_I can' stand it anymore, Chére," he said, his voice husky and low. "I've wanted you since I first met you. You felt it, didn' you? The spark between us?"_

_Rogue nodded voicelessly, her heart beginning to beat rapidly at his words, and faster when he moved even closer. His hand brushed her face, softly stroking her cheek, before it slipped into her hair, disappearing in her thick locks._

"_I still feel it, Chére, even stronger now" he said, almost a whisper. _

_He slowly pulled her closer with that hand, and the next thing she knew, their lips were touching. She deepened the kiss, hesitantly at first, and then hungrily as her tongue swirled around his. _

_She wrapped her arms around his neck and felt his hand run through her hair, stroking the back of her head, while his other settled at the small of her back. She shivered, looking into his seemingly-endless red and black eyes, and he looked back at her with desire clearly visible in them._

_Rogue didn't even think about the fact that she was touching him until they broke apart slightly several minutes later, gasping heavily for breath with their foreheads resting on one another's. And right when she was going to ask how he wasn't unconscious and on the floor, he pressed his lips to hers again._

_Thoughts of her powers fled her mind, and she moaned into his mouth, her body arching into his firm chest, when one of his hands strayed down past her neck and brushed lightly against her breast, circling back to brush by again._

_Rogue gasped into his mouth when he touched her more firmly, and she felt a pool of warmth gathering low in her belly. She pressed against him, her kiss hungrily demanding more._

_She squeezed her eyes shut and moaned when he complied with her nonverbal request, and his hand left her breast and moved slowly across her stomach. Her world dissolved completely when he touched her thigh, and –_

* * *

Rogue woke with a start at a loud blaring sound and looked around, almost wildly, only to find no trace of Remy. She was panting heavily, and closed her eyes, trying to calm her body down. She slammed her hand down on the alarm clock's snooze button, and instantly regretted it – having forgotten Carol's powers – when it shattered into flying bits of wiring and broken plastic that showered the nightstand and the floor next to her bed.

She groaned, threw her head back into her pillow, and could feel the hot blush in her cheeks. That was the first time she'd ever had such an…. explicit… dream. Sure, she'd had numerous dreams in the past about kissing Bobby or Cody, or touching them without her gloves, but never something so detailed – so _sexual_.

She moaned, and closed her eyes, trying to ignore the feelings that the dream had created while also feeling frustrated at the fact that she'd woken up just as she was getting to the best parts.

'_That was quite the dream, Rogue,_' Carol's voice echoed in her mind, causing her to let out a startled shriek.

"Shit, Carol, Ah almost jumped outta mah skin. Don' scare me like that!"

She felt, rather than heard, laughter come over the link Xavier had created. '_Sorry, Rogue_.'

Rogue settled her forehead against her knees, and let herself fall down the link, and the next moment she was standing on her mindscape next to Carol. Carol gave her a grin, and she then realized what Carol had said. "You – you _saw_ it?" Rogue asked, mortified.

Carol shrugged. "Parts of it, little flashes. I _am_ a big part of your unconscious mind now according to your Professor, the part that gives you dreams."

She threw an arm around Rogue's shoulder. "Don't be embarrassed by it, Rogue. I've had a lot more racy dreams than that. It's natural. Especially when it's about a guy as hot as your Remy is." She said playfully.

Rogue blushed and looked away, but a smile appeared on her face and she sighed wistfully. "Ah know."

She glanced back to Carol, and attempted to change the subject. "Did yah get any more trees fixed?"

Carol's expression fell. "No, once you left, everything we were using disappeared. I think if you're not here you can't start healing them – I couldn't get anything to appear because this isn't my mind."

Rogue nodded. "Ah was wonderin' 'bout that. Oh well, Ah guess that just means we get t'spend more time t'gether."

Carol smiled, and opened her mouth to speak when they were both suddenly knocked off their feet when the mindscape shifted as if it was hit by an earthquake.

Rogue pushed herself up off the ground, looking around. "What was that?"

As if answering her, they heard a distant voice, indistinguishable but clearly a voice, and Rogue realized someone was talking to her outside of the mindscape.

"Ah better go, someone's in mah room with me. Ah'll be back later." She said, turning to Carol.

Carol nodded, and then Rogue found herself back in her room, her eyes coming to focus on Ororo's face.

"Rogue?" She asked with concern, pulling her hand away from where she'd been shaking her shoulder. "Are you okay? You were just sitting there, and your eyes were glazed over."

Rogue smiled and nodded. "Ah'm fine, Ororo. Ah was in mah mind – it's somethin' th'Professor taught me."

Ororo looked relieved. "Okay. I just came here to let you know the debate is starting in about thirty minutes, and I thought you might want to see Charles," she said. Xavier had left the night before, and flown to D.C. where the debate was being held.

"Okay, Ororo, thanks."

"I guess it was a good idea, given the state of what I assume used to be your alarm clock." Ororo said, looking at the debris on the floor.

Rogue flushed. "Yeah, Ah'm gettin' used to mah new powers Ah absorbed, an' one of them is sorta super-strength." She sighed. "Now Ah need ta buy a new clock."

Ororo laughed at her expression as she looked at the remains – Xavier had filled her in on the fact that Rogue seemed to have kept the powers of the person she'd absorbed, possibly permanently in Xavier's opinion after having seen the way Carol's psyche was embedded in Rogue's mind.

"Well, after the debate, I was planning on a Danger Room session for the team, so maybe you can get a feel for your powers in there." She said, and paused, hesitant. "You don't have to come – Bobby's going to be there, and-"

Rogue shook her head. "It's alright, Ah'll join yah. Ah'm gonna hafta see him sooner or later in class, so Ah might as well do it sooner. An' Ah'd really like ta try things out with mah new powers."

Ororo nodded. "Well, I'm going to go down to the living room to watch the debate."

Rogue smiled as Ororo backed out of the room. "Ah'll be down in a few – jus' hafta clean up this mess, an' get dressed."

Rogue turned her head and looked at the remains of the alarm clock with a sigh, and grabbed her garbage can and began to sweep the pieces on her nightstand into it. And as she cleaned, she found her mind constantly, inexorably, back to her dream.

* * *

"Aside from our regular political analysts, we've invited other guests to discuss particular issues brought up by the candidates." John King said, looking at the cameras surrounding the table at which he sat.

"Two of your guests will be discussing mutant affairs after both the Republican debate that starts in a few minutes as well as the Democratic debate being held later this afternoon. Mister Kevin Lovato of the 'American Family Organization', a national organization critical of the mutant rights movements will be one of our analysts."

"For our second guest, we've invited Dr. Charles Xavier to join us. Professor Xavier has a PhD in Genetics from Johns Hopkins, a PhD in Molecular Biology from Baylor College of Medicine, a Masters in Behavioral Psychology from Princeton, and a number of honorary doctorates from various schools including Notre Dame and UCLA."

The camera moved to Charles as he rolled his wheelchair onto the stage and up to the round table with King and Lovato.

"Thank you for accepting our invitation to provide a commentary on mutant issues, Professor." King said, shaking his hand.

Charles nodded. "Thank you for having me, John. And please, call me Charles," he said with a warm smile.

"Very well, Charles. Now, you are widely regarded as one of the leading professionals in the fields of genetics and molecular biology, and the leading expert in mutant genetics, above even Doctor Henry McCoy, our Secretary of Mutant Affairs." King said.

"Mister Lovato had a chance to give some background on his position and his organization a few minutes ago, and I was hoping you could get our viewers 'up to speed' on the issue of mutants, Charles. Let's start with a basic question: what _causes_ mutants?" King said, leaning forward on his elbows.

Charles' eyes twinkled. "Well, John, the first thing I must make clear is that all of us, in our own way, are mutants. The word mutant simply means an organism that has been produced as a result of mutations in their genome. Each and every person on the planet is the product of a genome that is slightly different from everyone else's, and those changes occur due to mutation. But for our discussion here, I'll use the term as most people in the general public do."

"Now, one thing we discovered with the completion of the Human Genome Project and our subsequent analyses of it – which are still on-going – was a small area in the genome dubbed the 'X-gene', which in reality is a small sequence of several genes that interact with one another."

"The only real difference between a normal human and a 'mutant' is the amount of mutation on that string of genes. 'Mutants' have a slightly different version of one of those genes that is basically stuck in an 'on' position – which affects the interactions of the others – whereas baseline humans have a version of that gene which is in the 'off' position. That's the only difference – on versus off."

Charles laughed slightly. "If you want to think about it in a simpler way, it is really not all that different than you having your 'blue-eyes-gene' switched on rather than your 'brown-eyes-gene', or the genes that in part determine skin color, height, and facial features."

"Okay, now what about this 'Cure'," King asked him, "how does that work?"

Xavier cleared his throat. "I'm not entirely sure, as the research behind it has not been released, and most likely will not be for some time due to patenting issues. But from what Worthington Labs _has_ released, and from some educated guessing, I believe it may work as a sort of 'gene therapy' and bridge the mutation to the 'Mutant' version of the gene and switch it into the 'off' position."

"And what is your opinion on the 'Cure', and all of the hype surrounding it?" King asked him.

"I think it may very well be a wonderful thing, certainly for those that have been harmed physically and psychologically from the discrimination and hatred against mutants that we see today. But I think we must be cautious, and I wish this had been debated as much as issues like stem-cells have. There are some serious ethical problems that must be considered. If you consider Mutants to be comparable to the damaged genetics that cause things like Downs Syndrome, and other genetic abnormalities, does that then mean we should consider those people also in need of 'repair', consider them 'less-than-human' in the way many consider Mutants? In addition, we must consider the question of using this on children. Should we have the ability to fundamentally change the very genome of our children, or should we let them grow up and decide for themselves? Such things could lead us to a very slippery slope in terms of genetics and genetic modification."

"Yes," King said, nodding, "There's a lot of debate on those particular aspects on the cure, as you know if you've watched our rather… spirited debates every night here on CNN since the Cure was announced, and we're very happy to get you on the air to talk with us about it."

"Now, another question that has been brought up many times – actually it's sort of two questions: Are mutants the next stage in human evolution – are they the Homo Sapiens to our Neanderthals? And the second part is why now – why the sudden population explosion of mutants?"

Xavier smiled. "Those are both good questions, and ones that are still being hotly debated by the science community. I'll address the evolution one first. A large portion of the genetics community believes that it is the case that mutants will be basically, as you said earlier, the next Homo Sapiens."

"Now, I am somewhat more hesitant to make that assertion due to the nature of evolution. A genetic mutation can be either advantageous or deleterious toward the organism, and for a large part that depends on the surrounding environment and how that mutation affects their ability to successfully reproduce. Currently one could consider this to be deleterious due to the amount of discrimination and hate we see in our society against Mutants that could hinder their reproductive success. If it changes, however, we may very well be seeing the beginnings of the future of the human race."

"As to the population explosion, most of us are unsure, although we all have our pet hypotheses. Some view it as 'Mother Nature's' answer to the way we've been damaging our planet. Others believe it is a result of our nuclear age and subsequent radiation causing these mutations to increase. And so forth."

"One of my personal hypotheses is that it is related to both the population of our planet and our travel breakthroughs of the past century like the automobile and the jet plane. We've reached a point in which we have so many people and so much interconnection between communities that those with a predisposition to producing a child with the mutated version of the gene are more and more likely to come into contact with one another."

"In the past we lived in villages and small cities and it took weeks to get around by carriage or horse or foot, and it was far less likely that the predisposed would come into contact with one another, although it likely did happen from time to time: my intuition tells me that some of the 'miracle men' from the past – embellished through myth – may have been mutants." He chuckled and looked at King. "For all we know, Moses may have been a mutant."

King nodded, laughing. "That's certainly something to think about, Charles. I'm afraid we'll have to wrap it up here, as the candidates for the Republican primaries are about to enter the room for the debate. Thank you, Professor, for the very enlightening discussion, and we'll be looking forward to your analysis after the debate."

Charles smiled and nodded, sitting back and steepling his fingers. On a monitor nearby, he saw Graydon Creed and Richard Wagner enter the debate hall that stood only a dozen feet away behind one of the walls of the studio where Xavier now sat.

Wagner was much older than Creed, thinning gray and white hair atop his head and heavy wrinkles on his face contrasting greatly with Creed's full head of hair and smooth face. It was one factor in Creed's success – people were both worried about the health problems Wagner could have at his age, and they were also attracted to Creed's youthful take on the policies – he had a large amount of support from those in the Under-40 demographic.

As they both sat down, and introductions and thanks were made, and the rules of the debate were explained, Xavier half-closed his eyes and reached out with his mind. He brushed past the dozens of minds in the room with him, and extended further, into the next room, past the camera crew, until he reached the two candidates. Wagner wasn't senile or anywhere close as far as he could tell – that was one argument his opponents had made. Charles did sense an overwhelming feeling of resignation – Wagner felt that he likely no longer had a chance to win the race, especially with his rather ambiguous position on mutants he'd shown in the past.

He pulled away from him, and circled toward the man he'd come to see, and took a deep breath – what he was about to do was something he tried very hard to avoid: the invasion of privacy involved in entering the mind of someone without their consent was hard for him to justify to himself morally, but he had, from time to time, made exceptions and the seriousness of the matter at hand made this one of those times.

He reached out to touch Creed's mind, and had to force down a wave of nausea at what he found there: pure, unadulterated, _hatred_.

Xavier forced himself not to pull out and get away from it, and delved deeper. The man was a walking shell of hatred against mutants- there was little else, besides some love for his wife, and his desire to become President.

Xavier couldn't find what caused his hatred – he seemed to have locked that away deep in his mind – but he did find memories of his talks with Maldrone. Graydon, it seemed, loved being an invisible puppet master, and was filled with glee at the thought of publicly running the nation while privately influencing anti-mutant sentiment.

He was the secret backer of numerous anti-mutant organizations including Friends of Humanity, Humanity Now, Church of Humanity, the Human League, and Humanity's Last Stand. As Xavier went deeper he found that one of his childhood friends was the leader of the shadowy terrorist group called the Purifiers who had attacked the San Francisco hospital two days before.

And then Xavier finally found what he wanted – a memory of a discussion between Creed and Maldrone close to a month ago. As he played through it, he heard them discuss the hiring of a thief, with Maldrone mentioning one named Gambit he'd heard about, and then discussing the hiring of the mercenaries to assault the mutant community that hid in the tunnels of New York.

Xavier pulled back, shaken both by the confirmation of his fears and the delving through Creed's twisted mind. He'd experienced few minds more… evil than Creeds. Magneto did not come close – he was more a misguided man who was trying to protect his 'race' – in fact, the only mind he'd experienced that surpassed it was that of an African mutant he'd encountered around the time he'd met Ororo.

Charles attempted to push what he'd found further back from the front of his mind, and forced himself to focus on the debate when he realized Creed and Wagner were now being asked the first question. Xavier pasted a fake smile on his face, and turned his attention to them.

* * *

Rogue shifted on the couch into a more comfortable position in her spot between Remy and Dani as the debate wound down with each candidate's closing statements. Most of the students were in the living room, packed in tightly to listen to the debate and watch the headmaster of their school speak.

The screen changed as they spoke to several of their regular political analysts, most of who felt Creed had won the debate, both on the mutant issues but the numerous other issues that had been brought up ranging from gay marriage to the economy.

Finally they switched back to the smaller studio where John King sat with Xavier and Lovato. _"Let's start with you first, Mr. Lovato – what did you think of the debate?"_

_The spectacled man cleared his throat. "Well, John, I agree with the majority of your analysts that Creed won this debate, hands-down. And I think his arguments on the mutant issue were among his strongest. I especially liked his points about the new Registration Act bill that is going to be introduced into the Senate. Really, I don't have much to say – he summarized the position of those of us at the American Family Organization quite well and I have no real disagreement with him. Although I'm sure I'll have some more to say when Professor Xavier is finished," he said with a thin smile._

_King looked over to Xavier. "What are your thoughts, Charles?"_

_"Well, I find myself in agreement with Mr. Lovato and the analysts – Creed definitely pulled off the win here in this debate. And I will agree that some of his arguments on mutant issues were among his strongest, and much better put-together than Wagner's arguments. I will say that I do __**not**__ agree with a single one, however, and I hope that in the actual election the Democratic candidate can string together a more compelling rebuttal than Wagner attempted."_

_"I'll make it no secret that I'll not be voting for Mister Creed, mainly due to the vast differences in our positions on not only mutants but other social and economic issues. One of my biggest disagreements with his arguments in this debate is the very thing Mr. Lovato commended him on – the Registration Act legislation."_

_"He compares, in his analogies he used several times, mutants – fellow human beings – to firearms, to sex offenders, and to felons and the 'registration' of each. I don't think that is in any way a productive argument, and in fact I think it is meant to dehumanize mutants and deliberately equate them to criminals of the worst sort, at least in my opinion." Xavier said._

_"I believe that this Registration Act, while it may remove something that Creed and his supporters see as a 'problem', creates a whole new set of problems. How will you get mutants to comply – will you force them to do so? Compulsory genetic testing? Who would have access to this database created by the legislation? The recent hacking attack on our very own Department of Defense servers shows that the safety of such information could be compromised in this age of computer hacking and espionage."_

_"Creed says he wants the information available for the police in their databases to look up like you would a vehicle registration. This would mean each and every station computer, every police cruiser computer, could be accessed for the information. What happens when an anti-mutant group hires the hackers – or steals a police car – and comes away with not only the names and addresses of mutants, but also their powers, so they can pick and choose who to terrorize and assault and prepare beforehand to deal with the mutant's abilities?"_

_"By his misguided attempts to 'protect' the American people, Mr. Creed and other like him will be greatly endangering the lives and livelihoods of mutants across the country."_

_"Several of his other arguments showed a telling – and concerning – lack of knowledge on the science we spoke about earlier, but my major disagreement, as I said, is on the Registration Act, as well as this new 'Proposition X' he mentioned which the group 'Humanity Now' is introducing for a vote in Texas – when you begin legislating reproductive rights of groups of people, I think you have gone too far over the line."_

_King nodded, and turned to Lovato. "Would you like to respond, Mr. Lovato?"_

_He nodded and cleared his throat. "Yes. First of all, Mr. Xavier, Graydon Creed is not 'dehumanizing' mutants with his statements. He is simply using analogies in order for people to more easily grasp his point about the need for this Registration bill."_

_"Secondly, you talk about the 'problems' that could occur with the Registration. Now, I will grant you that the database could have problems with hacking or with access. But so do your DMV records, and so do your birth records with the state. Someone could hack in and steal your social security number, but that doesn't mean we stop using them."_

_"And finally, in my opinion, sometimes the smaller group has to make a sacrifice for the betterment of the whole of humanity. And that's what we're asking mutants to do here. Why are they so afraid to let themselves be known if they truly are harmless?"_

_King turned back to Xavier. "Charles, we'll let you have the last word on this – we have about a minute before we need to go on a commercial break."_

_"Let's take your statements one by one, Mr. Lovato. Since you seem to like analogies, or at least Creed's analogies, let's make one here. Let's say I was campaigning – you are a heterosexual, I presume – let's say I was campaigning to make it the law that heterosexuals needed to register themselves in order to have sex and reproduce. And in my arguments I said 'of course these people should register – we make people serial killers and sex offenders register all the time'. I would think that if you heard such comparisons you would be rather offended, and I think that is the case here with Creed's comparisons._

_"Now, you do have somewhat of a point with DMV and birth records. The difference is, you do not have a large population that hates you, and thousands of that population who want to kill you simply for being what you are. The difference between the DMV and the Registration is that the DMV does not tell someone your genetic makeup."_

_"And toward your last point, mutants do not want this Registration, or in your terms 'are afraid' of making themselves known, because of exactly what I just stated – they are hated intensely by many, many people in this country."_

_King broke in. "I'm afraid I'll have to stop you there Charles. Thank you both for joining us – it's been a very enlightening discussion, and we will speak once more this afternoon when the Democratic candidates begin their debate."_

* * *

Rogue panted as they ran through the streets of a ruined city that looked like it would have been at home in a post-apocalyptic film. Lights from helicopters swept across buildings in the distance, and the sound of distant chattering gunfire filled the smoke-filled air as they moved past burning cars and smoldering ruins of buildings.

To her left she saw Logan take down two men clad in black holding automatic weapons, who popped out of a burnt-out shell of a building that looked like it had once been a convenience store.

She heard the soft whir of incoming missiles, and snapped her head up. There were two, and were aimed in her general direction. She saw Piotr shift his body into his metallic form and brace himself to intercept one of them, but then she saw the second would arc to her left to where Remy was crouched near a car, glancing in the opposite direction over the hood.

She acted on instinct – and her knowledge that she still had Carol's powers – and brought her fist down with remarkable speed onto the missile as it flew past. She heard a satisfying crunch, and it spiraled out of control. The sound caught Remy's attention, and he leapt to the side as it spun past him and exploded under a wrecked car.

He landed neatly on another car, and he sent a nod of thanks her way, and then they were off running again – Piotr looking at her with amazement having seen what she'd done.

The sound of gunfire ripped through the air as a lone mercenary popped up behind them, apparently having hidden under a car they'd just passed. Several bullets flew toward Kitty, but passed right through her and Ororo as she grabbed both Ororo and Bobby and phased them along with herself.

The gunman began to stitch his bullets to the side toward the others. Rogue saw an opening, and darted toward him, her fist swinging in an arc toward his head – a punch that Logan had taught her months before.

There was a loud crack, and the man was sent tumbling like a ragdoll for nearly twenty feet before coming to a rest against a car tire, completely lifeless. Rogue turned back and flushed when she saw everyone's looks of shock.

"What? That was the fastest way t'get rid of him. Let's get movin', people!" She said, her shout underscored by the sound of gunfire coming nearer.

"Ouch." Remy said, looking at the body of the man, before he turned to follow Rogue. "Know how he feels," he said teasingly to her as he caught up with her, shooting her a grin.

Rogue rolled her eyes. "Keep that up, swamp rat, an' you'll feel it again."

"You know you love it, _Ch_-" He broke off and tackled Rogue to the ground, and they skidded to a halt in the dirt, mere inches from one another, as an RPG passed three feet above them and continued its flight until it blasted into a nearby wall.

A moment passed with them merely panting heavily next to one another, and then the rest of the group was there, and they got back to their feet. Remy turned around – only to find their path was blocked by a dead-end alley.

The group dove behind several parked cars as automatic weapons chattered nearby when the soldiers that had been chasing them finally caught up.

Ororo's eyes turned white, and several blasts of lightning hit the closest soldiers, knocking them off their feet, their guns glittering to the ground.

"Kitty, draw their fire!" Logan shouted.

But Rogue was already moving, wanting to test her powers as much as she could. She vaulted over the car even as Piotr tried to grab her and pull her back under cover.

Remy jabbed him in the side and shook his head, knowing what she was planning. "Let her go, Piotr, she knows what she's doin'. Jus' get ready." He said over the noise.

The front soldiers saw Rogue and opened up on her. The bullets in the alley had felt like the rubber bullets they used here in the danger room, and now, being hit by these rubber bullets, it felt like they were hitting her with high-speed ping-pong balls.

More soldiers turned, pouring their fire into her as she strode toward them. Before she knew it she was slugging one man in the jaw, and suddenly Remy was behind her, hurling glowing playing cards at the feet of half a dozen others, the blasts instantly knocking them over.

Logan was not far behind, ripping into their ranks with his claws, and then the others joined in as well, and in mere minutes the entire brigade of mercenaries had been eliminated.

"Danger Room session end." Logan said aloud, retracting his adamantium claws and wiping the sweat from his forehead as the hologram in the room sputtered and died, leaving them in the cavernous room.

"Damn, Rogue, are you alright?" Kitty asked her, looking her over for the tell-tale bruises of a rubber-bullet strike, having seen her take dozens if not hundreds of them.

Rogue smiled. "Yeah. Just fine."

"Is this what the Professor mentioned-"

Rogue shrugged. "Yeah. Ah'm pretty much invulnerable from the powers Ah absorbed. If those were real bullets, theyd've hurt like hell and left bruises, but Ah'd probably be okay."

Kitty looked at her with wide eyes and nodded.

Logan clapped a hand onto her shoulder. "Nice right cross, darlin'," he said with a smile, referring to her first punch. "Good work, the lot of ya. Let's go shower off – lesson's over."

* * *

Rogue toweled off her hair, slipping on a fresh pair of pants. Kitty and Ororo had already left the small shower area/locker room, leaving Rogue on her own. She glanced in one of the mirrors, and smiled to herself, thinking over the events of the Danger Room session.

This was the first time she'd felt…. good …. about one of their exercises. As they'd walked up the stairs and gone up the elevator to the main basement floor and into the showers, she'd seen a change in the others. They, likely unconsciously, seemed to have a newfound respect in their eyes when they looked at her.

In their past exercises, she'd felt like she was just bogging the team down. She'd felt like little more than a parasite – rarely able to help unless it was up close, always needing help to survive the exercise either from being protected or borrowing someone else's powers. This was the first time she'd actually felt _useful_ to the X-men.

Rogue set down the towel, and put on a T-shirt, and then set to drying her hair once more as she moved toward the exit of the shower room. Both the shower rooms exited into the back of their uniform room, and Rogue nearly collided with Remy as he exited the men's shower room. He was slipping a T-shirt over his head, and as he pulled it down she saw that his hair was still damp from his own shower.

"Hey," Rogue said quietly, gazing up at his face as he moved closer to her.

"Hey _Chére_, t'anks for savin' my ass back dere wit' dat missile."

Rogue laughed. "Well, yah saved mine when y'knocked me down like y'did."

"_Oui_, wouldn' want dat lovely ass getting hurt," he said, winking at her.

Rogue rolled her eyes, trying to fight a smile, and lowered the towel in her hand.

Remy grabbed her arm and looked at her seriously. "You did good in dere, _Chére_."

Rogue smiled shyly and looked up at him through her eyelashes – she was almost startled when she realized just how close he was standing. "Thanks," she said quietly.

She stood there, looking up at him, and then started to back away – set down her towel and leave – when she was startled by Carol's amused voice echoing in her head: '_Kiss him, dummy!'_

Rogue stopped moving backwards, and then surprised Remy by darting forward to clumsily press her lips against his in a brief kiss, her nose bumping with his for a moment before she made contact.

She pulled back blushing heavily, and bit her lower lip nervously. "Remy, I-"

He grabbed her chin gently with one hand, and the next moment they were kissing again. And it was _so much_ better in real life, Rogue thought to herself as she melted into the kiss.

Remy's hand moved into her hair and she parted her lips for him, almost jumping at the nearly-electric feeling that passed between them when her tongue hesitantly touched his lips. It felt like the air around them was filled with a static charge.

Rogue moved her own hand to the back of his head, letting her other settle on his chest as he slowly deepened the kiss, running his tongue over hers, his warm lips moving slowly against hers.

And then it was over – much too soon for her liking – when Remy pulled back, breathing heavily both from the kiss itself and from the absorption he'd fought for nearly a minute-and-a-half. His hands moved down to hers in a familiar gesture from their sessions together, and he took the charge back into himself.

He released her hands and let his own settle on either side of her body, just above her hips, as he caught this breath.

Rogue looked at him nervously, again biting her lip. "So…"

Remy shot her a small grin. "So…" he echoed.

Rogue took a deep breath. "What does this mean, Remy?" She asked, her voice somewhat shaky.

He smiled gently at her. "I t'ink it means you want us to be more than jus' friends."

"And?" She asked quietly.

He ran his eyes over her face – she was looking up at him with wide, vulnerable eyes – and he knew that what he wanted to say was also exactly what she needed to hear.

"An' it means I wan' dat too, _Chére_." He told her, his voice husky. He saw a dazzling smile appear on her face one moment, and the next she'd pulled him into a firm hug.

Rogue blinked back tears of relief, thankful her face was hidden in his chest, as he slid his arms around her. She blinked again, and then looked up to Remy's warm eyes.

"Remy, Ah– with Bobby, an' everythin' that happened, it still hurts a lot. Can we take things slow? Ah want this, but Ah don't wan' things goin' too fast."

Remy nodded and kissed her forehead. "We go as slow as y'need, _Chére_. I figured you'd need t'get over Bobby an' all dat. Actually was pretty surprised when y'kissed me," he said, grinning at her, "but it was definitely one of de best ones I've ever had."

Rogue smiled, a light blush on her cheeks. "Ah surprised mahself. But Ah'm glad Ah did it," she murmured, laying her head back on his chest.

"Me too," he said, his breath tickling her ear.

Rogue reluctantly pushed back. "We should go upstairs. Ev'ryone'll be wonderin' where we are – the other debates are gonna start in a few minutes."

Remy sighed and pouted. "Alright." He said, kissing her lightly on the forehead.

He put an arm around her shoulder as they walked toward the stairs. "So, you wanna keep dis quiet for a bit or tell ev'ryone?"

Rogue frowned for a moment. "Let's… let's not advertise it or anythin' right away – Bobby'll probably have a big blow up if he finds out we're already… together," she said, smiling slightly as she said the word. She looked up at Remy and grinned. "Let _them_ figure it out."

Remy grinned back and squeezed her shoulder in understanding as they climbed the stairs.

* * *

A knock on his door woke Remy from his sleep, and when he heard the door open he rubbed his eyes and squinted at the figure in the doorway. He sat up, throwing the covers off. "_Petite_? What's up?"

Sarah stood in the doorway, twisting her hands together nervously. "I had another bad dream, Remy. And… I – I had a-another accident."

Remy nodded, knowing the second part was the reason she seemed so nervous, and stood up and walked over to her. He took her hand. "Let's go see," he said gently.

She nodded, and followed him to her room. He opened the door and flipped on the light switch. He instantly saw the alarm clock at the side of the bed sparking slightly around the bone-spear that had impaled it. He quickly unplugged it, not wanting it to accidentally start a fire. A quick glance around the room showed several more spikes, embedded not only in the bed but also in the closet door and the ceiling above her bed.

"Well, looks like y'need a new clock, _petite_," he said.

He smiled gently at her, noting her nervous expression, and pulled her into a hug, kissing her on the top of the head. "Don' worry, _petite_, dis is normal, an' I ain' mad at you." He reassured her, recalling what Ororo had told him about her conversation with Sarah about her father and the way he'd treated her.

Sarah trembled in his arms for a moment, and looked up at him with a watery smile. "Thank you, Remy." She said softly.

He placed a hand under her chin. "So. Still havin' bad dreams?"

She nodded miserably. "Yeah. I thought they might be done – I haven't had them since you stayed with me – but I guess not."

Remy gave her a sad smile. "It takes a while, Sarah. I'm still havin' dem too." He glanced at her spike-filled mattress. "I'll take care of all dis tomorrow. You wanna stay in my room tonight?"

Sarah gave a nod, but then hesitated. "Actually, could we go on the roof where you go when you have a bad dream?"

He smiled, surprised, and then nodded. "Okay, _petite_. Put on some socks an' a jacket, an' we can go out dere."

Sarah smiled and scurried around the room, yanking on her socks and shoes. She put on a light blue jacket, and then looked excitedly at Remy.

He laughed softly and grabbed her hand once more, leading her back to his room. He pulled on a T-shirt and put on his trenchcoat and boots. He grabbed a large blanket from the closet in the room, and then opened the balcony door.

Remy grabbed Sarah, and hopped up to balance on the balcony railing. Sarah let out a squeal at the sudden movement, and looked at him with wide eyes. "Don' worry _petite_, I got ya. Now, I'm gonna lift ya up onto de roof, an' you sit down where I put you 'till I climb up dere. I don' wan' you movin' 'round an' fallin' off, _hein_?"

Sarah nodded, and he shifted her in his arms, lifting her well above his head until she settled onto the roof, gripping the gutter tightly. He hopped down quickly, grabbing the blanket, and then sprang off of the opposite railing, landing nimbly on the roof next to Sarah.

He grabbed her hand, having to pry it from the gutter as she stared nervously at the ground four stories below. She finally relinquished her grip, and let him pull her to her feet. She gripped his hand tightly as he walked her over to his usual spot.

Remy sat down, and Sarah sat next to him. "This is m'fav'rite spot up here. Really beautiful bein' able to see all dis." He said, gesturing out at the forest below and the moon and stars over their heads.

Sarah relaxed, now sitting near Remy. "It's nice back here where you can't tell how high up you are."

Remy chuckled. "Yeah. We'll stay out here 'long as you want, _petite_," he said, and laid back putting an arm behind his head. Sarah followed his example, scooting up next to him so the back of her head rested in the crook of his shoulder, and she snuggled close, putting an arm over his chest.

Remy shook out the blanket he'd brought, and draped it over them – the chilly air didn't bother him, but he saw Sarah's cheeks already turning pink from the cool air, and he could see their breaths billowing out in a white fog of condensation in the moonlight.

They both looked up when the heard a noise below them, and they saw Rogue poke her head over the top of the roof. She looked surprised when she saw Sarah. "Oh, Ah'm sorry, didn' realize you were…" She trailed off, and started to move back down to her balcony. "Ah'll just-"

"It's okay, Rogue," Sarah called out. "C'mon up here with us."

Rogue looked back up hesitantly, and Sarah smiled at her. She nodded, and pulled herself onto the roof, walking uncertainly over to them.

"You can lay down here with us," Sarah said, patting the roof next to her with her hand.

"Ah don' want to interrupt your time together…." Rogue said.

Remy shook his head. "You won'. Sarah an' I want y'out here wit' us."

Sarah smiled at Rogue as she sat down next to her. "You have a bad dream too?" She asked Rogue.

Rogue shrugged. "No, Ah jus' couldn't get t'sleep, an' then Ah heard you guys up here."

Rogue leaned down, propping her head up with her hand. "Did you have a bad dream?" She asked Sarah.

Sarah pouted, and nodded. "Yeah. I got Remy to take me up here 'cuz this is where he goes when he has them." She said.

Rogue smiled, and looked past her to Remy. He shot her a smile, and then moved his arm under Sarah's head, laying it straight out. "You can try gettin' t'sleep out here wit' us, _Chére_."

Sarah nodded, and squirmed so she was pressed closer to Remy, and looked expectantly at Rogue.

Rogue grinned, and moved over to lie down next to Sarah. She rolled onto her side, and rested her cheek on Remy's outstretched arm.

Sarah looked worriedly at her when she moved to put her free arm out over Sarah and Remy. "Am I hurting you Rogue?"

Rogue glanced down and realized Sarah's shoulder bone-growths were digging into her arm. She looked up at Sarah, and shook her head. "No, sweetie, you don' hafta worry 'bout hurtin' me. Ah… Ah developed some new powers the other day, an' one of them makes it really hard ta hurt me." Rogue said.

Sarah nodded, and settled her head back onto Remy's shoulder, now having to worry only about if she was hurting Remy.

Shortly after, her eyelids began to droop. "G'night Remy, G'night Rogue." She whispered sleepily.

"Goodnight, Sarah." Rogue said.

Before long, Rogue found herself drifting off as well, and was dimly aware of Remy moving the blanket to cover her as well, before she fell asleep.

Remy looked fondly at the two sleeping girls – _his _girls, he thought in wonder to himself. Rogue, his girlfriend; and Sarah, a girl he was coming to think of as his own child.

The events of the past several weeks, while many of them unpleasant, had played out in a way that had brought Sarah and Rogue into his life, and he didn't think he could be any happier.

* * *

_**A/N: Hope y'all liked this chap. Figured I'd tease you guys a bit first with Rogue's dream (grins). So, official Romy is now here!**_

_**Next chap: lots more Romy, a bit more on Rogue's new powers, visit to Boston, and some more plot development. See you all next week!**_

_**Oh, and so that the ASPCAC (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Alarm Clocks) doesn't sue me: "no alarm clocks were harmed in the making of this chapter". :-D**_


	16. Chapter 16: Ignition

_**Disclaimer: X-men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway ;)**_

_A/N: Hey everyone, some more Romy, a visit to Boston, and things move forward a bit plot-wise. Thanks for all the feedback last chapter, enjoy the chapter!_

**Chapter 16: Ignition**

* * *

Rogue woke up as the first rays of the morning sun began to peek through the branches of the trees in the distance. She could still see her breath, and her cheeks felt numb from the still-cool air. She realized that she'd curled up around Sarah, who was lying on her side facing Rogue, under the blanket Remy had wrapped around them.

She glanced down in time to see Sarah snap her eyes shut, clearly already awake. Rogue grinned and poked her in the side, causing her to squirm. "Pretendin' you're asleep?" She said in a soft whisper.

Sarah giggled softly and nodded, opening her eyes. "Good mornin', Rogue," she whispered.

"G'mornin'. You have any more dreams?" Rogue asked.

Sarah shook her head with a smile. "Nope!"

Rogue pulled back a little, and felt her body protest when the movement allowed some cool air to flow in beneath the blanket, and she moved back to where she'd been lying. "How long have yah been awake, Sarah?"

Rogue felt, rather than saw, her shrug as everything but her head was hidden beneath the blanket. "Only a few minutes." She smiled and moved her hand out from under the blanket to poke a strand of Rogue's hair. "Your hair was ticklin' my nose, an' it made me feel like sneezing."

She turned her head slightly to look back at Remy who had also, during the night, turned on his side to face both girls, his arm still stretched out underneath both their heads. "Remy's still sleepin'." She said quietly.

Rogue smiled. "Let's wake him up then." She said, sitting up, letting the blanket slide off of her. She slivered slightly at the sudden change in temperature.

Sarah giggled and sat up as well, and turned around and reached out a finger to lightly poke Remy in the stomach. She shrieked when his hand suddenly snapped up and grabbed her finger just as it touched him.

"Wasn' asleep, _petite_," Remy mumbled, cracking his eyes open, "nice try, though." He released her finger and she threw her arms around his neck in a hug.

Remy groaned and sat up, trying to shake feeling back into the arm they'd been sleeping on, and it tingled as blood rushed back into it.

"Good morning Remy!" Sarah said brightly, looking up at him with a large smile.

"Morning, _petite,_" he said, and then sighed, squinting in the morning sunlight. "You people an' your early mornings," he grumbled, but shot a small grin to Rogue.

"You're always grumpy in the morning," Sarah giggled. "That was fun sleepin' out here, Remy."

"Good." He said, reaching a hand up to tousle her hair. He saw her cheeks were flushed a rosy pink. "You cold?"

Sarah nodded and touched her cheek. "My face is. Can we go inside?"

Remy nodded. "Sure, _petite_. Let me warm you up first."

He reached up and cupped her face with both his hands, and a soft magenta glow began to fill the air, heating up near her face.

She looked at him with amazement as she felt the heat returning to her numb cheeks. "Thanks, Remy." She said.

"Y'welcome. Let's go inside before you get chilly again."

Sarah nodded started unsteadily across the roof as Remy stood up and offered his hand to Rogue. She grabbed it he helped pull her to her feet.

"Do Ah get a face warmin' too?" She said, her eyes dancing.

He sighed in mock exasperation. "You too?"

He pulled her into a sudden, soft kiss that left her nearly breathless. He pulled away and smirked at her. "If dat didn' warm y'up, de powers you just absorbed should."

"It definitely did." She said softly, smiling at him before she turned to follow Sarah.

Remy bent down and quickly folded the blanket, and tucked it under his arm grinning to himself. As he turned after the two, he saw Sarah near the edge of the roof and look back toward them.

He watched, almost in slow motion, as her foot skidded out from under her as she stepped on a particularly wet patch of morning dew that had collected on the roof.

"Remy!" She screamed as she tumbled off the edge, and he felt his stomach drop away – he wasn't even close to her: there was nothing he could do, no way to get there in time.

But Rogue was. Despite being a bit preoccupied after Remy's kiss, she saw Sarah slip and fall. She was close enough to lunge forward, and she managed to grab the girl's wrist as she slipped over the side. The lunge, along with Sarah's weight yanking her forward, caused her to lose her balance and slip over as well.

Rogue managed to grab onto the gutter, but it snapped under her hand and she and Sarah began to fall toward the ground four stories below. Rogue pushed off the wall with a hand as she started to fall, and managed to twist her body so that Sarah was above her, and Rogue was falling back-first. She hoped that her newfound invulnerability would save her from the fall while also cushioning the blow for Sarah. Rogue clenched her eyes shut, bracing for the impact.

But the impact never came. She opened her eyes, and found herself looking at Sarah who was staring in shock at the ground beneath them, still nearly four stories below.

Remy was above her, looking down over the edge of the roof, a mixture of relief and shock on his face. He leapt down to the balcony nearby, which brought him to near eye-level with Rogue.

"Y-you're flying." Sarah said shakily, trembling from the fright of her fall, however short it ended up actually being.

Rogue looked down, and sure enough, she was flying – or rather, hovering on her back, with nothing but herself keeping them where they were.

Remy leaned out over the railing and grabbed her shoulder, pulling the two of them toward him to the safety of the balcony.

As he did, she felt something _give_, and she stopped floating, landing on the balcony floor in a sitting position.

"Fuck," Remy breathed as he pulled the two of them into a crushing hug, closing his eyes in a silent prayer of thanks. "You scared th'hell out of me, both of you. Don' ever do that somethin' like dat again," he said, his voice thick.

He pressed a kiss on the top of Sarah's head, and another to Rogue's forehead as he gripped the two tightly. He turned his head to the side, and Rogue thought she caught a glimpse of suspicious wetness in his eyes.

From where her face was pressed against his chest, Sarah mumbled, "That was scary."

"You're tellin' me," Rogue said, finally feeling her heartbeat begin to slow.

"You're okay now _petite_," Remy said softly. "B'cause apparently Rogue can fly." He said, giving her a grin that partly hid the relief in his face.

Sarah looked up at Rogue, and Rogue could see her face was still pale from the fright of the fall. "You didn't tell me you could fly."

Rogue shrugged helplessly. "Ah didn't know Ah could either."

'_Carol_?' Rogue sent mentally down the link.

'_Guess I forgot to mention that_,' she said back, sounding embarrassed.

'_Anythin' else you forgot t'mention_?' Rogue asked dryly.

'_Um, I don't think so. But I only had them for about six months and didn't get to use them much before my dad got me the suppression collar,_' she said softly.

'_Oh, Ah'm sorry, Carol, Ah'm just – just tryin' t'get used to this, Ah didn't mean to bring up somethin' that hurts yah._'

She could almost hear Carol shake her head. '_Don't worry about it, Rogue. I've been thinking about it a lot already with you going to Boston for me and everything. I –_' she paused. '_I think Remy's talking to you._'

Rogue broke her concentration, and saw Remy looking at her with concern. "What?" She asked, having heard him asking her something.

"I asked if you were alrigh', Rogue."

She nodded. "Yeah. Sorry Ah spaced out there."

Remy looked at her for a long second, and then realized she must have been dealing with the psyches in her head.

He scooped Sarah up in his arms, and stood. They'd ended up on Rogue's balcony, so it was open for them to get inside. "I don' know 'bout you two, but I'm gettin' hungry," Remy said as they entered Rogue's room.

"I am too," Sarah said, and Rogue noticed some color coming back into her face.

Remy nodded, and touched Rogue's forearm for a moment. "Well, we'll leave you t'change an' all dat, _Chére_."

Rogue smiled. "Ah'll see yah downstairs."

Remy paused for a moment at the door. "Rogue, I was thinkin', let's leave 'round lunchtime for Boston."

Rogue smiled and nodded. "Sounds good."

Rogue heard the door close, and collapsed back on her bed as her adrenaline rush began to wear off. She shook her head – yet another ability Carol had gifted her with: one that she'd need to work on to see what was possible with it.

She sighed and closed her eyes, bringing two fingers to her lips which seemed to still tingle with Remy's earlier kiss. Each time he kissed her it made her feel…. _alive_ – like anything was possible, and she felt like she always needed more. '_My next hit of Remy_,' she thought, giggling to herself

What she felt when they kissed was more than what she'd shared with her past boyfriends. Her only kiss with Cody had been pleasant – up until he'd slipped into a coma. She'd kissed Bobby only a few times – little brushes of the lips after a few of their dates. Her only _real_ kiss with him had been in a bedroom at his parent's house, and shortly after that, he'd begun pulling away and their relationship deteriorated from then on.

Remy – Remy was different – he didn't pull away in fear or uneasiness like Bobby always had. He pulled away almost reluctantly – almost as if he _wanted_ to keep kissing her until he passed out.

Rogue bit her lip and finally opened her eyes. No use sitting around daydreaming about him when the real thing was doors away, going to meet her for breakfast, she thought as she pulled off her clothes and walked to the shower.

* * *

Outside, in the hall, Remy stopped and pressed another kiss to Sarah's forehead. "Really thought I lost you dere, _petite_. Don' think I've ever been so scared in m'life." He whispered in her ear.

Sarah hugged his neck. "I'm okay, Remy, really."

As Remy walked Sarah to her room, she looked up at him, his comment to Rogue still on her mind. "You're leavin' again?" She asked with a cute pout.

He smiled down at her fondly. "Yeah, _petite_. Jus' for a few hours – Rogue wants me t'go somewhere with her."

Her pout dissolved. "Well, at least Rogue might keep you from hurtin' yourself again." She said, grinning at him.

He laughed as he stepped into her room and set her down on her bed. "I hope so. An' I ain' plannin' on doin' anythin' dangerous – she's just visitin' someone in Boston, an' I tol her I'd come wit' her."

Sarah looked at him mischievously. "Are you sure you aren't just takin' her on a date?"

Remy looked at her with wide eyes, and his mouth fell open. "A-A date? No, _petite_." He said, his expression becoming one of curiosity. "Why would you think that?"

Sarah's face fell. "Oh. Well, she's really nice, an' really pretty, an' she likes you, so I just thought you would like her too."

Remy put a hand under her chin and leaned forward, resting his forehead against hers. "I do, _petite_, but I didn' think y'knew dat. This trip jus' isn't a date." He lowered his voice conspiratorially. "Don' tell anyone yet, but Rogue an' I decided to start datin'."

Sarah gave him a genuine smile. "Really?" She asked happily – the day she'd met Rogue she'd thought she was perfect for her Remy, and had been pretty sure they liked one another – just as she'd been able to tell Henri liked the girl in the nearby town when he'd taken her into town with him.

Remy grinned and nodded. "_Oui_."

"Good. I like her," Sarah said with a slight smile. "She reminds me of my mommy."

Remy's eyes darted to her – he'd never thought about her other parent, and that Sarah might miss her. His stomach clenched – what if she wanted to go back to her?

"Where does your mommy live, _petite_? With your daddy?"

Sarah shook her head, a sad expression coming to her face. "No, she's not alive anymore."

Remy's eyes softened, and he reached up to touch her cheek. "Your mommy died?" He asked – she rarely talked about her past, and the only time she had previously mentioned it had involved her abusive father.

A lone tear rolled down her cheek, and she nodded abruptly. "Yeah. A few years ago. My daddy was mean to her too, an' she was scared of him. She tried to take me away an' run, but he always found us."

Remy brushed her tear away, and looked at her encouragingly, hoping she'd talk more about it.

"She died in a car accident. I was in the back seat, an' someone hit the car where she was sittin'. After that, he blamed me for killin' her an' got even worse 'till he kicked me out." She said, and her shoulders shook in a soft sob. "I miss her, Remy."

He engulfed her in a hug nearly as tight as the one on the balcony. "Oh, _petite_. I'm sorry."

He rubbed the back of her head with one hand. "My _mére_ died too." He murmured into her ear.

"She did?" Sarah said, her voice muffled slightly.

"_Oui_. She was really nice t'me – her an' _Tante_ Mattie who you met were de closest things to a real _mére_ I've had. She died 'bout a year after she an' my _pére_ took me in off de streets."

Sarah sniffed and looked up at Remy. "Guess we both had sucky lives." She said, trying to smile at him.

"Well, mine probably wasn' as bad as yours, but yeah. But I say, from now on, let's try an' make each other's lives a lot better than dey were, _hein_?"

Sarah nodded and smiled. "Yeah."

Remy pulled back slightly. "I'll let t'get changed, an' den I'll cook you a nice big omelet, _hein_?"

Sarah giggled and planted a quick kiss on his cheek. "Alright, Remy, but it better be really really big, 'cuz I'm starvin'."

* * *

Rogue was becoming frustrated. After breakfast she'd decided to try out her newfound ability of flight. She'd chosen to work in the Danger Room because of its sheer size, which could give her room to fly around. She'd found, however, that while she'd floated earlier, she had no idea how to activate the power.

She'd tried jumping into the air, leaping off of a low ledge the Danger Room provided for her – she'd even tried falling backward like she had on the roof but all that resulted from that was her slamming the back of her head into the floor.

She shut her eyes, growling to herself. '_I wish I could figure this out so I can fly_,' she thought in frustration.

And then she felt the same feeling she'd experienced on the roof. She opened her eyes and found herself standing on thin air several feet above the ground. She realized she'd been approaching it the wrong way, assuming there was a physical trigger, when it really was a mental trigger.

She took a deep breath. "Alright, let's see how this works." She willed herself to move upward, and found herself slowly beginning to float toward the ceiling.

Rogue grinned to herself, and began to try directing herself around the room. She thought of moving forward horizontally, and suddenly saw the wall speeding toward her.

She threw an arm up to shield her face as she slammed into it and then dropped to the ground, her concentration broken. She groaned and stood up – the impact hadn't hurt much, especially given the high speed she'd slammed into it at. It was more a bruised ego than a bruised body.

She attempted the same thing, again and again – one time putting a large dent in the metal walls, slowly getting used to how much thought she needed to put into a movement to get the desired result. It was delicate – too much and she'd hurtle around uncontrollably, too little and she'd float along at a snail's pace.

Given the speed she'd experienced on her wall-denting run, she couldn't wait to try outside where she could let loose and see how fast she could fly – but she decided that should wait until she got the basics down.

As she worked on trying to land with the right momentum so that she didn't skid along with her arms flailing for balance as she had several times already, she managed to get it down to skidding only a few feet – but still too much force and speed.

Rogue saw some movement in the viewscreen of the control room several stories above her, and when she squinted she could make out Logan through the clear window. She glanced at her watch and was shocked to discover nearly an hour had passed, she remembered the schedule in the control room had been booked this hour for Logan and some of those training to become part of the team.

She grinned to herself, and rose into the air, gliding upward toward the viewscreen. She knocked, causing Logan, Jubilee, Dani, and Sam to look up, and she laughed at their slack-jawed stares as she waved to them.

Logan pressed the intercom button. "You're flyin'," he stated flatly, a hint of disbelief in his voice.

Rogue grinned widely. "Yep!"

She pulled back into what she intended to be a backwards aerial somersault, but ended up being more of an out-of-control, head-over-heels tumble. She managed to pull out of it and spread her arms to balance herself, and look sheepishly at Logan.

"Well, Ah'm tryin' to at least. Still don't have th'hang of it all yet." She admitted, blushing when he laughed. "Ah'll head on down to the ground an' let you guys have your session." She said.

She looped around the perimeter of the room several times, managing to avoid any collisions, and landed on her feet near the door as it opened, skidding several feet.

Logan stepped inside, followed by his students – or rather torture victims, Rogue thought to herself, remembering some of the more grueling simulations Logan had put her through.

"This another gift from th'girl ya absorbed in New York?" He asked, raising and eyebrow at her.

Rogue nodded. "Yeah, Ah just found out 'bout it t'day, an' Ah still need some work on it, but it's great – almost like ridin'." She said, thinking fondly of her horse rides.

"It's makes yah feel free, don't it?" Sam said, smiling knowingly at her. "Guess Ah'm not the only flier 'round here anymore. 'least you don' have bright energy trails shootin' outta yer legs like me," he said with a wry look on his face.

Rogue laughed. "Yeah, definitely a plus."

"You sure you don' wanna stay an' go through our simulation?" Logan asked her.

Rogue shook her head. "No, Ah've gotta take a shower – Ah've got a lot t'do today. Ah'll let you torture 'em without mah help." She said, winking at Jubilee and Dani.

She left the room, and heard Logan order them further in, and then the whir of machinery as the simulation began. As she moved up the stairs and passed the viewscreen, she instantly recognized the sim. '_The Magneto/Sabretooth sim – they're gonna be sore as hell when they get done,_' she thought with a sympathetic wince.

* * *

"You wan' me to come in wit' you, Rogue?" Remy asked her as she stared up at the small, two-story house. Carol had lived at that house with her parents, in the suburbs of Boston.

"Yeah, please." She said quietly.

Remy leaned into the window of the cab and slipped the driver a fifty – in addition to what he'd just paid him for the fare. "Wait for us here an' dere'll be some more where dat came from." The driver nodded with a wide smile, and leaned his seat back, settling in for a wait that would be well worth it.

Remy and Rogue had left at nearly noon, grabbing a sandwich for the trip. They'd taken the smaller X-Jet as far as they could, and parked it in a secluded spot with its "chameleon" mode activated to keep it from being seen unless someone knew exactly what they were looking for, and where. They'd then taken a cab to Carol's house.

The flight there had been short, and oddly silent. Rogue had told him after they'd taken off that she was going to spend the time working with Carol with the exercises to heal her mind, which the Professor had assigned to her. He'd simply nodded his assent, and used the time to catch up on the sleep he felt he'd been deprived of earlier that morning.

Rogue took a deep breath and grabbed Remy's hand before starting up the driveway to the front door of the elegant little home. No doorbell was visible when they reached the front door, so Rogue lifted the ornate brass knocker and rapped the door twice with it.

They heard movement inside, and in a few short moments the door opened. A middle-aged woman with short blond hair and the same sparkling blue eyes as Carol poked her head through the opening. Her eyes, while just like Carol's, were red-rimmed and watery.

She glanced between the two of them, and a frown appeared on her face. "I told you people, I'm not going to do an interview. I'm going through enough already with what happened and I don't appreciate you people trying to dig into our lives any further." She said, somewhat angrily, before she began to close the door.

Rogue moved a hand out, stopping the door. "Wait, Mrs. Danvers, we ain't reporters, an' we ain't here for an interview."

She looked at Rogue and Remy suspiciously. "Then what're you here for? You sellin' something? Bible thumping?"

Rogue shook her head. "No, ma'am. Ah – Ah knew your daughter. Ah was the last person t'see her alive."

Marie Danvers looked at them now, almost hesitant. "You – you were the woman that tried to help her?"

Rogue nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

She hesitated, then opened the door fully for them. "Come in, we can talk in the living room."

Rogue, then Remy, entered the small entrance hall. The place had a well lived-in look, and reminded her of her own home down in Meridian.

"Ma? Was that another – Oh." A blond-haired young man stopped as he looked out from a doorway down the hall. He stepped out and Rogue got a good look at him – he was no older than Rogue herself, and was tall, nearly as tall as Remy.

"Steve, why don't you come with us?" Mrs. Danvers said softly. "Steve, this is…" she trailed off, realizing she hadn't asked their names.

"Ah'm Marie, an' this's Remy." Rogue said – no sense using their code-names here.

Mrs. Danvers nodded. "My name's Marie too, and this is Steve." She looked to Steve. "She wants to talk to us – she was the person that was with your sister when… when it happened," she said, her voice breaking slightly.

Marie Danvers ushered them all into the living room, and bustled around, grabbing a pot of coffee from the stove and pouring cups for all four of them. She and Steve sat down on the large couch, across the coffee table from Rogue and Remy.

Marie's hand shook noticeably when she picked up her own cup, and she smiled tremulously at the two strangers. "So you were – you were _with_ her, when she died?"

Rogue nodded. "Yeah. Ah tried everythin' Ah could to save her, but she was too injured, too far gone."

"You- you saw her die? Was she – was it painful? Did she die hurtin'?"

"No, ma'am, she was peaceful when she … at the end." Rogue replied.

"Did she… say anything? Tell you something to say to – to us?"

"Actually, she sort of did, an' that's the reason Ah'm here. Y'see, Ah'm a… mutant, just like your daughter, an' Ah have the ability to absorb people's memories an' personalities. Ah absorbed your daughter, an' she wants to talk to yah." Rogue said.

The woman's face twisted, almost angry. "Is this some kind of sick joke? You think that's funny? You tell me you knew my daughter and then tell me she wants to talk to me when she's dead? What are you really here for?"

Steve, an angry expression on his own face, clenched his fists, but Remy half-rose and shot a look at him. "Mrs. Danvers, she's tellin' de truth. At least let her prove it to you."

Marie looked dubiously at her, but reluctantly nodded.

Rogue gave a sigh of relief. "When Ah absorb someone, Ah take a little piece of them into mah mind. When your daughter touched me when she was dyin', a big chunk of her mind got stuck inside of mine. Ah'm gonna try to let her take control of mah body an' talk through me." She said nervously – apart from the unwitting take-over when she'd first absorbed Carol, she'd never let another psyche take control like this.

She closed her eyes and let herself fall down the link to her mindscape, where Carol was waiting for her. "Try t'take over now," she said softly.

Carol smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you for this, Rogue." She closed her own eyes, and then she was gone, leaving Rogue alone in her own mindscape.

Remy saw Rogue open her eyes once more, and he again saw the now-familiar hint of blue around her irises, and noticed a change in her posture. She looked over at Marie and Steve, and a wide, tearful smile broke out on her face. "Mom? Stevie?" She said, her accent now different, slightly Bostonian, with no hint of Rogue's own accent. Her voice was at a higher range than Rogue's was as well, he noticed now.

"How do we know you're Carol?" Marie asked, but even then she seemed less dubious than before hearing her voice.

She smiled. "Stevie, you chipped your front tooth when we were little when you ran in front of me when I was on the swing in our backyard and I kicked you in the mouth." He looked at her, shocked, and she turned her eyes to her mother. "Mom, you were teaching me how to drive, and I crashed into a mailbox and crumpled the bumper, and you told Dad that you did it so he wouldn't be have something else to holler at me about."

Tears filled Marie's eyes. "Carol?" She whispered softly.

Rogue/Carol nodded, and then stood up and moved around the table and was engulfed in a hug by Marie and Steve. "Oh, honey, I'm so sorry," Marie sobbed into her shoulder. "If I'd stood up to your father – if y-you weren't wearing that- that damned collar of his, none of this would have happened."

Rogue/Carol shook her head. "No, don't do that to yourself Mom. There was no way you anyone could have expected that to happen to me, and no way you could have gotten dad to change his mind about me."

Rogue/Carol finally pulled back, her own eyes teary, and smiled at the two of them. "Rogue - Marie, the girl whose body I'm in, helped me after I was shot, and her powers took away the pain for me, and gave me this chance talk to you."

She smiled over to her younger brother. "Stevie, you've grown up so much since I last saw you. It's been, what, almost four years now? You should be finishing up school soon, right?"

He nodded – he still seemed a little weirded out by the concept of his sister in this other girl's body, but seemed happy to get the chance to say goodbye. "Yeah. I'm going to go straight into the Army once I graduate high school this May."

Rogue/Carol smiled widely. "I'm proud of you, Stevie. You'll do great."

On the other side of the couch, Remy shifted uncomfortably on the couch – while it was Rogue there in a way, it really wasn't, and he felt he was intruding, listening in on a close family conversation. "Could I get somethin' t'drink, Mrs. Danvers?" He broke in quietly.

She nodded and started to stand up, but he held up a hand. "Please, no need for dat. Stay wit' your daughter – jus' let me know where de kitchen is."

She smiled, surprised, and sat back down. "Just go back to the hall and take a right – the kitchen's at the end of the hall. Glasses are in the cabinet next to the refridgerator. Help yourself to whatever we have."

Remy nodded his thanks and left the three of them alone together. As he walked down the hall he saw a number of pictures in frames covering the wall, showing Carol and her brother when they were babies, all the way up until they were in their early teens.

He noticed that the pictures changed somewhat when Carol was about sixteen – or at least that was his own estimate of her age from looking at them. Her father was in hardly any of the pictures with her after that point, and Remy noticed she began to wear higher-necked tops and scarves around her neck. In one he could make out a silver gleam peeking out over a scarf, and he guessed that was the mutant-nullifying collar Rogue had mentioned to him.

He realized that the change in pictures likely corresponded to her coming into her mutant abilities, and her father's resulting reactions to that. Remy shook his head – Sarah had experienced much the same shunning although it seemed to a further extent, and he had a feeling she'd always carry the scars of that with her. He'd try his hardest to make her forget, but there were some things that never went away completely.

Remy walked further, into the kitchen, and he found a cold can of Dr. Pepper in the refrigerator. He popped it open and took a long drink from it as he sat down casually at the table, staring out the picture window in the kitchen that showed the small lawn behind the house. A small flower garden had been planted near the home, and a number of the flowers were already well in bloom with the relatively warm weather they'd had the past weeks of spring.

Remy pulled out a deck of cards and shuffled them rapidly before dealing them out for a game of solitaire. '_Doesn't look like a good start_,' he thought to himself as he looked at the card that had been turned up.

* * *

He played through several games, and lost track of time as he played. When he finally reached for the soda again, he found the can now room-temperature, so he downed the remaining soda in one gulp and set down the can.

Remy drummed his fingers on the table absently, and then decided to continue working on his powers as he had been for the last week. He stretched out a hand to the soda can, and slowly brought a kinetic charge out from his skin, charged the can, and slowly retracted the charge, each time getting closer to keeping the charge only to the air molecules around his own skin.

He was startled from his exercise when the door in the kitchen, which apparently opened to their garage, swung open, and a tall, broad-shouldered, balding man that he recognized from the photos in the hall, strode in. "Marie, I'm-"

He stopped in his tracks when he saw Remy, and Remy quickly retracting his charge back into his hand. "Who are you? What are you doing in my house?" He demanded angrily, his eyes seemingly searching for something close by to use as a weapon.

Remy raised his hands in a peaceful gesture. "Mr. Danvers, I'm here with a friend dat knew your daughter. Your wife invited us in."

"She let a mutie like you stroll around our house?" He said, more an insult than a question. "Marie!" He bellowed loudly, before turning back to Remy.

Remy was pretty sure he picked up a soft curse from the distant room, and in moments Rogue/Carol, Marie, and Steve all walked into the kitchen.

"What do you think you're doing, Marie, letting these muties into our house?"

Marie's jaw tightened slightly. "Joseph, please. Hear them out. This girl – she was with Carol when she died, and her abilities let her take a piece of Carol with her in her mind."

Joseph's face creased into a snarl. "Get out of here, both of you. I won't have you filling my wife's head with your mutie bullshit." He said, grabbing Remy's arm, and shoving him back toward the entrance to the kitchen, moving to do the same to Rogue.

Rogue/Carol grabbed his arm with one hand and twisted it away, reaching out with her other to grab Joseph by the collar and lift him nearly a foot in the air. "No, Daddy. No more. I'm done being a meek little girl that you can push around, that does whatever you tell her to. That got me killed, last time I checked, when you made me wear that damn collar and go to get the 'Cure'."

He looked at her in panic, trying to struggle free. "Yes, Daddy, it's me, Carol. Things are a little different when I'm not being your good little dog wearing my collar, aren't they. You listen to me, Daddy. I'll _never_ forgive you for the way you treated me after you found out I was a mutant. Never. And I never want to see you again."

She brought his face closer. "But you leave mom alone, and quit treating her like crap like you have been since I was seventeen. I thought maybe finding out I was dead would have knocked some sort of sense of decency into you, but I guess that was just wishful thinking." She dropped him, and he stumbled back into the door, fear in his eyes.

Rogue/Carol turned to her mother and brother, and gave them a hug. "It's been great to see you again, and talk with you like this, but I think we should get going."

Marie nodded reluctantly and pulled back. "Tell Rogue 'thank you' for us, for giving Steve and I this gift." She said, tears on her cheeks.

She smiled, and kissed her mother on the forehead. "I will. I love you both."

She turned toward Remy, and gave him a hesitant smile. "We better go before that cab-driver decides to take off."

Remy nodded, and followed her down the hall, out the front door. Outside she put a hand on the wall, and wavered slightly. She blinked rapidly, and looked back up to Remy.

"Hey," she said shakily, and he knew instantly Carol had given control back to Rogue.

He put an arm around her shoulder to steady her as they walked down the driveway to the taxi. "You alright?"

Rogue nodded and entered the cab as he held the door open for her. "Yeah, Ah'm fine. Just never done that before. It's a little jarrin'."

Remy climbed in behind her, and passed the man another fifty. "Thank you, _mon ami_. We jus' wanna go back to where y'picked us up, okay?"

The driver grinned, pocketing the bill, and put the car into gear. "You got it."

Remy put an arm around her shoulders once again, and rubbed her arm with his hand as she leaned her head back onto his shoulder. "You did a good t'ing back dere, Rogue. I'm proud of ya."

Rogue blushed and looked up at him. "Ah just did somethin' for a friend."

"_Oui_, I know." He moved his hand up to her neck, and slowly started massaging the muscles along the back of it, occasionally moving to her shoulders.

Rogue sighed contentedly, and craned her neck back to look up into his eyes. "Don' think Ah could have done it without such a wonderful… boyfriend," she said, savoring the word.

Remy shook his head, a twinkle in his eye, and placed a finger on her lips. "Nuh-uh, _Chére_, I ain' your boyfriend yet. Still got to take y'out on a date b'fore dat's official."

Rogue smiled back playfully. "Well then, just what did you have planned, Mr. LeBeau?"

He leaned down lifted her hair so he could press several soft kisses to the bare skin on the back of her neck. "Well," he said quietly. "I was thinkin' Monday, after your classes, I could take you out on de back of my new motorcycle, an' take you to a nice restaurant in de city, maybe go see a movie before we eat. Den we see where t'ings go from dere. How's dat sound, _Chére_?"

Rogue shivered as he kissed her neck, and reached up a hand to tangle it in his hair. "It sounds wonderful, especially for a first date," she said, smiling as he brought his face next to hers and settled his chin onto her shoulder.

"Certainly the best first date anyone's ever asked me out on before," she said wryly – Cody had taken her to a BBQ stand, and Bobby had taken her to a local diner, albeit one with some rather good food.

"Well den," he whispered, his breath warm on her ear. "Monday night it is, _maChére_."

* * *

Dozens of birds took flight from the wooded forests surrounding a Canadian lake, startled by the nearby disturbance – the loud rumbling and the prolonged red blast of light that occurred close by.

It wasn't the first time they'd fled a disturbance – months ago they'd flown quickly away when a wall of water came rushing down on the low-lying parts of their forest, and ripped apart the landscape.

Life had finally returned to normal as the flood eased, and the wildlife had begun to get used to life on the new shores of the lake that had been created, when they were disturbed once again.

* * *

They weren't the only ones – in Salem Center, New York, Charles' Xavier's eyes snapped open as he felt the rip in the psychic plane. Logan and Ororo suddenly rushed into the his study, and he realized he'd been so focused on the disturbance that he'd been broadcasting quite loudly into the minds of everyone in the mansion.

"Professor, are you okay?" Logan asked him.

He looked up at them. "Get to Alkali Lake."

* * *

"You don't want to be here," Ororo said, knowingly, as she and Logan walked through a dense fog away from the X-Jet: they'd had to take the larger jet to Alkali Lake as Xavier had given Rogue and Remy permission to use the smaller one for the afternoon.

"Do you?" Logan asked her. He felt uneasy about this – returning for the first time to the place where he'd not only lost his memories and been experimented on by Stryker, but more importantly the place where they'd lost Jean – where she'd sacrificed herself to save them. He couldn't blame Scott, though, for having come here after he'd left the mansion – this was the place his fiancée had spent her last moments.

As Logan and Ororo walked through the fog, his senses were alert – something was _off_ about this. There was something here that wasn't right.

Ororo stopped walking, and placed a hand on his arm. "No, I don't. But the Professor said he sensed Scott here, and something was wrong. This is the last place I ever wanted to come back to."

Logan shot her a small smile – he'd been thinking so much about his own feelings he'd forgotten what it must be like for Ororo as well. She and Jean had been very close friends for years, well before he'd met either of them. "Can you do something about this fog?" He asked her gently. "I can't see a damn thing."

She smiled back, and then lifted her face to the sky, her eyes turning a ghostly white as she called on her powers, and he felt a wind begin to pick up, and the fog started to dissipate.

They both stared in amazement as the fog disappeared, and their surroundings became visible. Rocks, large boulders, driftwood logs, all were floating aimlessly through the air as if on strings. '_Or telekinesis_,' Logan thought to himself – was this a coincidence: levitating objects at the site of the death of one of the few people he'd met who had that ability?

He tapped a small rock and it bounced and spun away – it was like the images sent back from outer space of a zero gravity environment.

"What the hell?" He muttered, and exchanged a glance with Ororo. He could tell she was having the same thoughts as he was about the levitation.

She broke his gaze and started walking further down the 'beach'. As she moved away, he walked closer to the shoreline. As he neared it, he spotted, floating out from behind a large boulder, what looked like a pair of sunglasses floating in the air. As they drifted into his hands, his uneasiness grew: they were the same ruby-tinted glasses Scott wore while not on a mission.

His head jerked to the left when Ororo screamed his name further down the beach – she sounded worried and confused. He shoved the glasses into his pocket and took off down the 'beach' at a sprint. He crested a small ridge, and found Ororo kneeling next to a body.

Logan felt his heart skip several beats when he recognized her – _'Jean?_'

Ororo looked up at him. "She's alive," she said, wonder in her voice, and he knew they were again thinking the same thing – _How is this possible_?

* * *

It wasn't until Rogue and Remy entered the main floor of the mansion after having parked the jet in the hangar, that Rogue realized the atmosphere among the students seemed… charged. She mentioned this to Remy. "Somethin's up. Somethin' happened while we were gone. You think there was another terrorist attack?"

Remy shrugged. "I noticed it too."

He spotted a familiar face walking down the hall. "Hey, Annie!" He called, and she walked over to the two of them. "You know what's goin' on? Why's everyone look so spooked?"

A worried look crept over Annie's face. "While you were gone, Logan and Ororo left in the other jet, and came back with a patient for me. Jean Grey."

Rogue gasped. "What? Jean? How- how is that possible?"

Remy's brow furrowed. "Stormy tol' me Jeannie died a few months ago."

Annie nodded to both of them. "I know. It seems she somehow survived. Charles thinks it has to do with her powers, but there's something he didn't say out loud – something that he's worried about. I've been checking her out, and she seems perfectly healthy. I left Logan with her for a while, but I'm heading down now to check in on her. I might need to set up an IV drip."

Rogue perked up. "Could Ah come with yah, help yah out? Ah wanna see how Logan's doin', too."

Annie nodded. "Sure, Rogue. I've been meaning to get my hands on you anyway – Charles wanted me to run some blood tests on you to see if anything has changed since you absorbed that girl." She said.

Rogue patted Remy's arm. "Ah'll see yah later, Remy."

He pouted, and gave her a hurt look. "I see how it is, _Chére._" He said, before his mouth quirked up into a small grin. "Go on, I gotta find Sarah anyway."

Rogue smiled, and followed Annie down the hall.

"So, how's it going with him?" she asked quietly. She'd been the first and as far as she knew, only, person Rogue had talked to after their kiss in the changing room the day before, and she couldn't be happier for her.

"Well," Rogue said quietly as they walked down the stairs. "Like Ah said, we're keepin' it quiet, but he asked me on our first date, Monday night. He said we'd go to a nice restaurant and a movie, an' if Ah know him, he's already got everythin' planned." Rogue said, blushing.

Annie smiled widely and slung an arm around Rogue's shoulder. "That's great, Rogue. I'm glad you two are getting together. You deserve someone like him."

Annie lowered her voice further. "And he's so great with kids – you saw how he and Carter clicked instantly, and the way he is with that girl he brought – Sarah – just makes you want to melt, doesn't it?"

Rogue flushed, but nodded. "He really is great with them, although it's a little early ta be thinkin' of havin' kids," she said, somewhat embarrassed.

Annie smiled. "It's never too early for that, Rogue." Her smile faltered slightly. "I learned that the hard way, with David. If you're in a relationship and you know you want kids, make sure he feels the same way as soon as possible or it's just a waste of time and a waste of love." She said sadly.

Rogue shot her a sympathetic look as she opened the door to the Med Lab. Whatever she was going to say was forgotten as when they entered to see Jean Grey, standing, wearing a shirt and only a small pair of shorts, looking at Logan with a confused, vulnerable expression as he asked her something.

The entire room felt as if it was charged with dangerous energy. Jean's head snapped up at their intrusion, and she seemed to change completely. She pulled away from Logan, her eyes dark with an almost predatory hunger, her skin darker than normal, almost as if it was mottled by a dark energy.

Rogue and Annie suddenly found themselves being slammed, telekinetically, into the wall with enormous force. Rogue heard Annie cry out, then fall silent as her head smashed into the wall.

Rogue felt the impact, and her mind raced, trying to figure out what was happening. She went for the safe bet and feigned unconsciousness even though the blow had not hurt her in the slightest.

She cracked her eyes open and she saw Logan grab Jean by the shoulders. "Jean, stop, the Professor can help," he said.

"I don't want his help," she snarled. Without even a movement she hurled him back into the wall as well using her telekinesis. The table flipped out of her way as she strode for the door, and it burst from its hinges and was flung into the hall in front of her.

Rogue yanked off a glove and lunged at Jean's bare leg, and grabbed on, bracing herself for another absorption. Jean's head snapped down in surprise, and Rogue felt her try to yank her off violently with her telekinesis.

Rogue could see the surprise in her Jean's eyes as she held on with her new strength, and then she felt the contact begin to take effect.

This was different than all her other absorptions. This time, it felt like her arm was set alight, and the feeling spread down her arm and up to her mind, but she grimaced against the pain and held on as Jean dropped to her knees, panting.

Finally, the pain too much, Rogue released her with a grimace. She was shocked when Jean still moved, falling back into a sitting position. Looking at her face however, she saw this was the same vulnerable Jean she'd seen as she entered, not the one that had looked at her like she was a tasty dinner.

"R-Rogue," she breathed. "Please, help me. I can't control her for long – you weakened her enough, but we need the Professor."

Rogue, confused but glad to listen to the Jean she recognized – the Jean that wasn't slamming her into a wall, closed her eyes and called out mentally to the Professor. A minute later she heard footsteps in the hall as Ororo entered, looking between them in worry, which grew when she saw Annie unconscious, and Logan groaning as he regained his own consciousness.

Moments later, Charles wheeled into the room, his expression grim.

Jean reached up and grasped his arm desperately. "Charles, please, she's trying to break free again. I can't keep her back any more without your help. Rogue hurt her, but she's recovering – fast."

Charles nodded and quickly placed the palms of his hands on either side of her head. Logan slowly stood, and looked at the two in concern, and not wanting to disrupt them, walked over to Rogue, and helped her up.

"You okay, Darlin'?" He asked her quietly.

She nodded. "Takes more'n a wall to hurt me these days. I'm worried about Jean."

Jean and Charles broke apart then, gasping from effort. Charles leaned back in his chair. "That should hold for the moment, long enough for you to get some of your strength back."

'_ROGUE!_'' Carol's panicked cry echoed in her head, causing her to jump visibly. '_Please, help me! Things are going crazy in here._'

Rogue's eyes lost focus as she moved down the link. When she reached her mindscape, she found a large area ablaze with a rather furious fire. Carol was trying to put it out by kicking and throwing the dirt from the forest floor onto the nearest section of the fire, having no other tools to help her.

Carol looked over to her. "I don't know who you just absorbed, but they're putting up one hell of a fight in here. We need to put this out before it hurts your mind even more."

Rogue closed her eyes, and slowly, ever so slowly, rain clouds appeared overhead, and a drizzle began to fall. In moments it turned from a drizzle to a downpour, and the fire slowly began to hiss to steam, and shrink in size.

Rogue finally collapsed to her knees in the mindscape, exhausted and still in pain from the absorption as the last of the fires went out.

Carol looked at her in concern, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Whoa there, Rogue, are you okay?"

"Yeah!" Rogue said, clearly faking enthusiasm. "Peachy." She said, before falling forward, unconscious.

Outside her mindscape, the rest of her did much the same, her eyes rolling up inside her head as she fainted backwards onto a surprised Logan.

* * *

_**A/N: Well, there you have it. Not quite as long as the past few, but still quite a bit happening (and I was starting to burn out with the 10,000+ words a week, although this one's 9000 or so). I tried to keep the word-for-word repetition of scenes from the movie to as small as possible, and when I did use them I changed a bit (some of the dialogue at Alkali, etc.). Figured I'd end it with a bit of a cliff-hanger as well. (grins evilly)**_

_**Next chap, we see quite a bit more with Remy and Rogue (first date!), maybe another Professor Remy situation, some more Jean, and things begin to pick up in pace. **_

_**Anyway, thanks everyone for reading; let me know if you liked it or not!**_

_And, just thought I'd make a note of something I realized: This story is officially, if I've got my info right, longer than most full-length novels published mass-market (I'm at ~140,000 words, while most 300-400 page novels are about 75,000-120,000 words)!_


	17. Chapter 17: Conflagration

_**Disclaimer: X-men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway ;)**_

_A/N: Hey there, back with the next chapter. Lots of Romy, and a little bit of angst for Logan in this chap. Thanks for all your reviews for last chapter! Please, read and enjoy._

**Chapter 17: Conflagration**

* * *

"Rogue!" Logan cried as she collapsed lifelessly into his arms. He quickly lowered her down, and checked for her pulse. He noticed her muscles seemed tensed, almost as if in pain, but he was able to feel her pulse and saw her chest still rising and falling.

"Rogue, c'mon darlin', wake up," he said, trying to shake her awake. "C'mon Marie." He called, but received no response. Ororo moved over and knelt down next to them.

"Is she-" she began, but was broken off by a worried voice from the doorway.

"Rogue?" Remy said as he climbed over the debris left from the doors being blasted open by Jean, and he rushed over to the three of them. "I saw you runnin' down here. What happened?" He asked, looking at Ororo.

Logan glanced at him. "She absorbed Jean, and then she just passed out." He said nodding in her direction.

Remy knelt down next to them and placed a hand softly on Rogue's arm. "This happened back in New York after she touched Carol."

Inside Rogue's mindscape, Carol was in much the same position as Logan. She was still trying desperately to wake Rogue up when something caught her eye. She glanced up and realized an ember had landed on the ground outside of the area Rogue had drenched, and suddenly flared to life in a small flame.

She gently moved Rogue's head from her lap on to the ground and leapt up, running over to the fire. "Oh no you don't," she said, smothering it with her foot until it became merely a dying whisp of smoke.

Another flare caught her eye, and then another, and when she looked around, she realized they were appearing all throughout the forest. "Damn, not good, not good," Carol muttered as she stamped out as many as she could.

But it was too much, too widespread, and she dashed back to Rogue trying once again to wake her. "Wake up, Rogue, please, I can't stop this on my own -"

She looked up once more when the flames concentrating in one area exploded into a flare of light, and she suddenly saw a woman step out of the flames. She had long red hair, and her body seemed surrounded by flames. She spotted Rogue and Carol, and started to stalk toward them with almost predatory grace.

Panic filled Carol's chest, and an idea came to her as the woman got closer. "Please let this work," she muttered, as she focused on the link like she had earlier in Boston.

* * *

"Should I… should I try to let her absorb my healing factor?" Logan asked, looking to Ororo and Remy.

Xavier rolled over to them in his wheelchair. "I don't think that would be wise, Logan." He came up next to them. "Ororo, could you see to Annie?"

Ororo nodded and reluctantly moved away, walking over to her unconscious friend who lay near the wall.

"I think-" Xavier began.

Rogue's body suddenly jerked, and she abruptly opened her eyes, looking frantically from face to face until she landed on Xavier's face. "Please, help, Professor. Rogue's knocked out and there's a woman in there with us starting fires all around Rogue's mind."

"Carol," Remy muttered to himself, recognizing her instantly.

"That was what I was afraid of. Rogue's taken a large part of Jean's … dark psyche into her." Xavier looked at Carol. "Stay here until I enter her mind and then join me – it will make things simpler."

He reached out his hands, placing them on Rogue's arm.

"Charles, let me help," Jean said, moving unsteadily over to their side. "She saved me, let me help her."

Charles shook his head. "You're too weak now, Jean – you have enough trouble keeping her under control in your own mind. You need to conserve your strength for that fight. I can handle the fragment of her in Rogue's mind."

With that he closed his eyes and focused, moving down, into Rogue's mind, and he felt Carol quickly join him. He found himself standing in front of Rogue's unconscious form. Only feet away, Jean walked toward them, a growing inferno rising behind her amongst the trees of Rogue's mindscape.

"Stop this, Jean. This is not your mind." Xavier said firmly.

She sneered at him. "I'm not Jean," she said, trying to shove past him and Carol.

Charles remained calm, and didn't budge. "No, you prefer to call yourself Phoenix, don't you? I locked you away long ago when you had much more power than you have now, and in your own mind. It will be no different here."

His brow furrowed, and the dark clouds Rogue had summoned before reappeared over them, and spread out across her entire mindscape. A clap of thunder sounded, and the swollen clouds let loose, dumping their water in sheets of rain across the fires, extinguishing them almost instantly.

"No," Phoenix whispered, her body sagging, and she fell to her knees.

Her eyes flared with flame, but Charles merely stared back at her. "You will do this girl no more harm. Leave her mind."

At his words, two blinding lightning bolts joined together as one and traveled from the clouds and struck Phoenix directly. As Carol blinked to clear the spots from her vision, she saw the place where Jean had stood was now merely a pile of ashes.

"Is she gone?" Carol asked, turning to look at Xavier as his brow furrowed once again.

He nodded as the storm he'd created began to slow and then dissipate into a ceiling of hazy gray clouds. "Yes. She's gone."

Charles knelt down next to Rogue and placed a hand on her forehead. He looked up moments later. "Rogue's fine. She exhausted herself with whatever she did before you came and got me."

Carol nodded. "She put out a big fire the same way you just did, and then she passed out."

Charles looked up, pleased surprise on his face. "Really? Perhaps things are coming along for her better than I'd thought. I wouldn't have expected her to have the mental control for something like that yet. No wonder she exhausted herself – that's a very taxing act, even for a psychic like myself."

He stood again, and looked Carol in the eye. "She just needs rest. Could you watch over her?" Carol nodded. "Alright then. I don't think she's harmed herself, but if anything odd begins to happen, let me know."

"Okay, Professor, thanks for helping." Carol said, settling down next to the girl she'd come to consider one of her best friends in the short time they'd known one another.

Back outside, Charles opened his eyes and pulled his hand back from Rogue's arm.

"Is she alright?" Remy asked, his face creased with worry.

"She is. I removed the psyche that was harming her. She just needs some rest. If you and Logan could help her over to one of the beds?" He said, nodding at one of the still-upright beds in the Med-lab.

Logan grunted and moved one arm under her knees, lifting her easily in his arms. "I got her, Cajun." He muttered, carrying her to the bed.

Charles turned around, and gave a brief nod of reassurance to Jean who was looking at Logan and Rogue with concern. "Don't worry, Jean. Rogue and I both stopped Phoenix before she could do anything too harmful."

He turned his attention to Ororo, who was helping up a woozy Annie. "Damn," Annie groaned, pressing the heel of her hand to her forehead.

Ororo helped her over to a chair, and sat her down in it. "How are you feeling, Annie?"

"Like I got tossed into a wall," she said grumpily, reaching up to touch the back of her head. She hissed, and pulled her hand back. "I think I'm okay. I've got a big goose-egg forming back there, and probably have a concussion, but I'll live."

She pointed to a small refrigerator that stood by a wall. "Could you get me an ice pack from there? I want to keep the swelling down as much as possible."

Ororo walked over to it and brought back a soft icepack, which Annie gingerly pressed against the growing bump. Annie sighed, and relaxed slightly before she realized others were in the room.

She spotted Remy and Logan near Rogue. "Is she alright?" Annie asked, starting to stand up.

Ororo pressed her back down into the seat. "She's fine. She's got a much harder head than you, with her new powers. She's just exhausted herself."

Annie looked warily over to Jean. "And her?"

Xavier cleared his throat. "It seems there are some explanations in order. For all of you." He said, gesturing to a chair for Jean to sit down as well.

"Go an' be wit' her, I'll stay wit' Rogue," Remy murmured to Logan when he saw his torn expression as he looked between Rogue and Jean. If he was reading him right, he realized Logan cared for Jean just as much as Remy felt for Rogue.

Logan gave him a slight smile, and a nod. "Thanks, Cajun." He said, and let go of Rogue's hand, and walked over and sat next to Jean, placing a comforting arm around her shoulder.

Remy smiled, and returned his gaze to Rogue, and squeezed her hand as Xavier began to explain Jean and the subconscious part of her mind that had taken up the moniker of 'Phoenix'.

* * *

Magneto looked up, broken from his musings by the young woman he'd recruited days before, who was rapidly becoming one of his favorite 'students'. Callisto strode down the stairs to where he sat.

"There you are. I picked something up." She said. Brief and to the point – just like he liked it.

"Oh?" He said, curious as to what she'd picked up that was important enough to hurry to tell him.

Callisto nodded. "It was electromagnetic in nature. It is massive. And it's a mutant," she said. "Easily Class 5. The most powerful signature I've ever picked up. More powerful than you."

Erik's eyes seemed to unfocus, and he gazed thoughtfully over her shoulder for a moment, and he realized there was only one person that it could be. He focused back on Callisto. "Where is she?

"Well, that's the thing. I started picking something up somewhere up in Canada, and when I felt it next, she was in New York. Somewhere further upstate than New York City. Westchester Country, I think. And she's still there, not moving."

Magneto frowned. "Damn." He breathed. "I had hoped she'd be elsewhere, hoped I might recruit her to our cause."

He shook his head, and his eyes bored into Callisto's. "Let me know if you feel her move again." Until then, there was little he could do while she remained in Xavier's halls, Erik mused to himself.

* * *

Logan sat outside the Med-lab, having been ushered out with Remy by Ororo and Charles. Ororo was staying close to Annie, by Annie's own instructions. Annie had asked her to keep an eye on her, and if she noticed her slurring her speech or forgetting things, to get her to the hospital as those were signs she might have worse than a concussion.

Annie didn't think anything would come of it, having used the diagnostic machines' CT technology they'd used to check out Jean just hours before, on herself now to see if she'd sustained any unnoticeable damage that had yet to rear its head.

They'd set up one of the overturned beds for Jean, and Charles had asked them to leave to remain undisturbed as he and Jean tried together to strengthen her mental walls against her more dangerous personality.

Logan shook his head. The explanation Xavier had given to the others was the same he'd given to Logan earlier alone before Jean had woken up. He still didn't much like the idea of what Xavier had done, but seeing Jean's alternate personality act in the lab did give him pause. That, and Jean's admission during the explanation that she'd known most of what Xavier had done, although not understood it completely until the last few years.

Logan realized he'd overreacted a bit, but then again who could blame him – the woman he'd cared deeply for, who he'd thought to be dead was suddenly alive, and Scott was still missing, possibly dead if Jean's comments earlier were true. And then he learned Jean's mind had been messed with, and he didn't handle it too well.

Remy, who was leaning lazily against the wall on the other side of the hall with his eyes closed, sighed and opened his eyes, looking over at Logan. "You love Jeannie, don' you?" He said, more a statement than a question.

Logan grunted, and nodded. "Yeah, Cajun."

Remy shot him a rather intense glance of scrutiny. "Stormy's got a thing for you, y'know. An' I was pretty sure you had one for her too."

Logan sighed, and rubbed at his temples – Remy had hit on the other issue that was bugging him. "I did – do. Things are happening so fast now I can hardly think straight."

After Jean's death, he'd found himself drawn to Ororo. They'd comforted one another after Alkali, and grown much closer. He'd felt a growing attraction, but tried to push it away by taking off for several weeks. He'd found himself unable to keep it from his mind, however, and eventually returned weeks ago, and they'd been dancing around one another ever since.

And now Jean was back. The first woman he'd really loved – at least as far back as he could remember. She was untouchable, the fiancée of Scott, and he knew that 'forbidden factor' had only added to her draw. And now Scott could be dead, and Jean was back, fighting for her very mind. Add to that his own intuition, which he'd spoken to Scott about: she might love them both, but she'd chosen Scott, not him, before she'd seemingly sacrificed herself for them all.

_Talk about complicating things_, he thought to himself. He wondered if anything in his life would ever _not_ be complicated.

Remy broke him from his reverie, fixing him with a gaze. "I'll bet. Jus'….. don' hurt Stormy, however you end up decidin' things. She's _ma soeur_, an' I'll have t'beat de crap outta you if you do, _hein_?" He said, mirroring Logan's own threat to him about Rogue.

Logan nodded. "Wouldn' 'spect anything less." He said, shooting him a small grin.

Remy stood up, stretching. "Don' think dey're gonna let us in anytime soon. I gotta go let Sarah know I'm back anyway. Back in a few."

Logan nodded, and leaned his head back against the wall, staring at the wall opposite him, still trying to get his mind to wrap around everything that had happened.

* * *

Rogue cracked her eyes open as she regained consciousness, and sat up, startled, when she saw Carol sitting next to her. Looking around, she realized she'd woken up in her mindscape.

"Hey there, sleepyhead," Carol said, smiling.

"What happened?" Rogue asked.

"You exhausted yourself putting out that fire, and passed out. Then, the person you absorbed started up fires all over the place, and I ended up taking control of your body to get the Professor to help me."

Rogue looked around. "Did she damage anything'?"

Carol shook her head. "No, the Professor put out all her fires before she could do anything lasting, and said he removed her psyche from your mind." She smiled. "He was pretty impressed when I told him what you did before I got him there. Said you had more mental control already than he thought you would if you were able to do that."

Rogue smiled back. "That's good Ah guess. Thanks, Carol, for gettin' him to help."

She merely shrugged it off. "Well, wouldn't want the mind I'm in getting burnt up. Besides, you're… you're my friend, Rogue, one of the best I've had." She blushed and looked down. "Sounds pretty weird, I bet, a mental imprint calling someone a friend…"

Rogue put a hand on her shoulder. "No, Carol. You're a person to me, not jus' a mental imprint. Ah wish we'd known each other out there an' Ah'm sure we woulda become good friends out there, but Ah'm fine with jus' bein' friends in here. You're as real to me as Remy or anyone else."

Carol smiled, and blinked back a tear. "Thanks." She looked away for a moment, and then looked back. "Speaking of Remy, I think he's out there right now waiting for you to wake up. Probably shouldn't leave him worrying any longer."

Rogue's eyes widened. "How long have Ah been unconscious?"

Carol shrugged. "A few hours at least, wasn't really keeping track of the time."

Rogue stood, and Carol followed suit. "You're right, Ah should get going." She paused, and looked back at Carol as a memory of earlier in the day came back to her. "Ah'm glad you stood up to him. He deserved that an' more." She said softly, referring to Carol's father.

Carol smiled softly and nodded as Rogue began to fade from view. "I'm glad I did too." She whispered.

As Rogue moved back into her conscious mind, she blinked her eyes open once more, and started to sit up.

"Rogue!" Sarah's voice came from the left, and she found herself pinned back down to the bed as Sarah hugged her.

She heard Remy chuckle on the other side of her bed. "_Petite_, she jus' woke up an' you're tryin' to strangle her?"

Sarah pulled back slightly with a blush, and simply sat on the edge of the bed next to her, and Rogue was able to sit up completely. "Are you okay, Rogue?"

Rogue smiled back at her. "Yeah, Ah am."

"You're startin' to turn into Remy with all this stuff happenin' to you," she pouted.

Rogue laughed. "Ah guess so. How long have Ah been out of it?"

"About four hours. I was jus' gettin' ready to head up an' make Sarah an' me some supper." Remy said, grabbing her hand and giving it a soft squeeze.

"Is Annie okay?" Rogue asked, concerned, knowing she didn't have Rogue's near-invulnerability to protect her from being tossed into the wall.

Remy nodded. "I think so. Got a concussion an' a big lump on the back of her head though. Stormy's followin' her ev'rywhere she goes in case it ends up bein' worse an' she needs to go to de hospital."

"An' Jean? Somethin' was controllin' her, an' when Ah absorbed her it got into me an' tried to do the same. Hurt like hell."

"Jeannie's fine," Remy assured her. "Prof says she's got a darker part of her dey've been tryin' to contain, another personality, an' dat's what got loose in her mind. Doesn' care 'bout anyone but itself. He said you really helped out, an' he thinks things are back under control. Dey spent three hours buildin' walls t'gether in her mind. Only let me an' Sarah in here 'bout a half hour ago."

* * *

Logan found Jean standing outside of the door to the room she had shared with Scott, simply staring at it with a blank, emotionless expression.

"Jean?" He said softly.

She wrapped her arms around her abdomen, and glanced over at him. "Hey." She said softly.

He glanced at the door. "I can go set up another room for you, if you want,"

Jean shook her head quickly. "No, Logan. I…. I need to be as close to him as I can."

She looked down, and wiped away a tear, and sniffed as he slowly put a comforting arm around her shoulders. She looked up at him, raw fear in her eyes. "I can't remember what happened. I remember seeing him, when I woke up, and I remember taking his glasses off and doing something with my telekinesis….."

Her shoulders hitched. "But I can't remember what happened after that. I think she – the Phoenix – took over, and I don't know what happened to him." Her voice shook. "What if I killed him? How could I live with myself if I did, Logan?"

He rubbed a hand up and down her back. "Don't think like that, Jean. I know you, and I know you aren't capable of something like that."

"I'm not, but I'm afraid the Phoenix might be. I'm so scared. Scared that Scott's gone, and scared that she'll get out again, that I won't be able to keep her in."

She pulled away, and touched his cheek softly with a hand. "Thank you, Logan, for this. But I need to be alone right now. I need to think, and get my mind back in order. Good night."

He gave her a bittersweet smile. "Goodnight, Jean," he said softly as she screwed up her courage and opened the door to her room. "Goodnight," he muttered after she was gone. Her grief over Scott, and her fear of what happened was quite understandable, but it still stung him when she spoke about him like that.

Logan sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair. Maybe a run in the Danger room would get his mind off of things, get him thinking more clearly about what mattered, he thought to himself.

* * *

The morning air was warming, but it still kept a hint of a chill in it that the older students noticed in their shorts and t-shirts they'd worn for their PhysEd class. Rogue had brought a change of clothes in case they did any sort of contact sport.

Xavier had insisted that while they were technically college students at a private institution, they still had to complete a PhysEd course like most other colleges required. It consisted of Monday morning classes that often had a fun twist to them, like flag football using their powers, and then Danger Room sessions several times a week.

Rogue stood, her arms crossed to keep the chill at bay, with Jubilee, Kitty, and Dani in a patch of warm sunlight that had made its way through the trees. Sam and Piotr were nearby as well, but Bobby stood off in the shade away from the rest.

Nearly everyone had, at least while she was around, taken to avoiding him, although she knew Piotr and Sam still hung out with him. She was touched that they were showing their support for her in that way, but it did sometimes make things awkward.

"Where's Logan?" Jubilee grumbled. "He's usually here bright and early."

"Logan ain' comin'," Remy's voice came from behind them, causing Jubilee to start slightly. "What wit' Jeannie an' all, de Prof wanted t'give him less stress, an' at least for now I'm coverin' all de PE classes, 'cludin' yours." He said with a grin.

Remy looked over the group of them. He could tell Bobby wanted to say something, likely complain or protest, but he seemed to be keeping a lid on it. "Alrigh' I don' really have much planned, so how 'bout 20 laps 'round de mansion, an' we'll go from dere. So hop to it, faster you get back, faster we get to de next thing, an' quicker you get outta dis class."

There was a collective groan from the group as they began jogging away, beginning the first lap. Remy set up the folded-up camp-chair he'd brought outside with him, and sat down, contentedly watching them run. He tipped his sunglasses down as they rounded the building – _especially_ Rogue, he thought with an admiring glance, watching her run past.

Soon enough, they'd finished their laps and stood in front of him, catching their breath. Remy stood up from his seat, tossing his trenchcoat onto it. "I take it Logan's been teachin' you de basics of fightin'?"

"Yeah," Sam said, standing bent over with his hands on his knees as he caught his breath. "Mostly in the Danger Room."

Remy nodded. "Alrigh', here's what we're doin' next den. Each of you is gonna have a little sparrin' match wit' me, an' we'll see what you got."

Jubilee groaned. "No fair, you're not exhausted. We ran twenty laps while you sat in that chair."

Remy looked at her seriously. "You think you're always gonna meet up wit' someone while you're still fresh? _Non_, it don' work dat way. One of de best ways t'show you really can take care of yourself is fightin' even when you're exhausted."

He smiled then, lightening the mood. "But for t'day, I'll jus' let y'all fight me at de same time, okay? Use y'powers, whatever y'wan', just try t'take me out." He snapped his hand forward, and his bo-staff extended itself in his palm.

One end glowed brightly as he forced energy into it. "If I drop ya on de ground an' den tap you wit' dis, you're down an' out for de rest of de fight. Any questions?"

"You sure you want to do this? Against all of us?" Jubilee asked, dubious.

Remy nodded, and shifted into a _savate_ opening stance, and beckoned to them with his hand. "Let's do dis."

Everyone hesitated still, and finally it was Sam that acted first, moving in close, taking a swing at Remy's abdomen, his fist glowing as if it was about to release a blast of energy. Remy spun to the side and let Sam's fist fly by in front of him, then grabbed Sam's arm and pulled him off-balance. He landed face-first on the ground and Remy tapped him with his staff.

"C'mon," he said. "You guys can do better den dat. Don' hold back on me. 'less you're 'fraid y'can' take me."

That put them into action finally, and Remy quickly found himself surrounded, dodging kicks and punches. He swung his staff at Kitty, and it whistled through her phased body as she moved closer. He swept his leg out at her, and he grinned at her surprise when instead of phasing through her, it made contact, knocking her feet out from under her. He sprang forward, avoiding Dani, and casually tapped Kitty in the side with his staff. She just lay there, looking at her legs in confusion

Fortunately that pulled him out of Piotr's range, causing him to land only a glancing blow. Unfortunately, it hurt like hell because Piotr had shifted into his metallic form.

Remy staggered back, further out of range, but Piotr followed him and leapt, intent on pinning him to the ground with his sheer mass. Remy let himself fall onto his back, and pulled his legs up as Piotr landed. They took the brunt of the blow like a spring, and then working with Piotr's momentum, he shoved with his legs, causing him to sail over him completely. He tapped him with his staff as he flew by.

He plowed into Rogue, who'd been moving up behind Remy. Remy had realized that, and done the maneuver because he knew she could take the impact with Piotr without being hurt.

He rolled to the side as an icy fist plowed into the ground where his head had been. Remy sprang up, and let Bobby take another swing at him, moving slightly to allow his fist to pass close-by, and slam into Dani's shoulder as she attacked on the other side.

She grunted in pain, and Bobby stopped his attack, and looked at her in concern. "I'm sorry Dani, are you-"

He was broken off when Remy scythed his legs, sending both of them tumbling to the ground, and tapped them both with his staff. "Never take your eyes off de opponent. He don' care if one of you got hurt, an' you can't either 'till he's taken out an' no longer a threat." He said.

He turned around, and managed to slam his eyes shut in time as Jubilee extended her hands in his direction, and bright globules of light exploded forward from her fingers.

He could see the flashes even behind his sunglasses and his closed eyelids, and was extremely thankful he'd seen her before she used her powers. He heard a rustling behind him, and spun around, opening his eyes. He raised his bo-staff in two hands and Rogue's fist slammed into it. It bowed inward imperceptibly, before flexing back into place.

'_Damn_,' he thought, wondering how much force had been behind it to cause adamantium to flex like that.

He stabbed backward, almost absently, with his staff and the glowing tip blew up the ground in front of Jubilee, halting her charge with a shower of dirt. He sprang into a backward, aerial somersault, pushing off of his bo-staff, and landed next to her, laying her out with another quick kick that buckled her knees. He tapped her as well, and then the only one left was Rogue.

Remy moved slowly toward her, and suddenly exploded into action, his foot blurring as it struck her stomach. She staggered back – she'd actually _felt_ that. As he kicked out again, a whip-like kick she'd seen him used while practicing _savate_, she realized he was charging his blows with his own energy to give him a boost to match her near-invulnerability.

She blocked his kick this time, and lunged forward with a punch toward his chest. He dropped his bo staff into place, but her blow caused it to smack back and up at his head, and the next instant he was tumbling backward, the blow nearly knocking him out.

When he didn't move, she felt dread pooling in the pit of her stomach. "Remy," she breathed, rushing over to his side. She knelt down next to him, and bent closer, to see how badly she'd hurt him.

She suddenly found herself flipped onto her back with Remy leaning above her, tapping her on the chin with his staff. "An' never made de mistake of thinkin' your opponent is down when he really isn't."

He stood up, and reached a hand down to help Rogue up, but she pushed herself up, and shot him a disgruntled look. He sighed to himself, and looked at the group – he'd known he'd be in hot water for pulling that stunt.

"Alrigh', what'd you all learn dis class?"

"Not to fight with Bobby around," Dani grumbled, rubbing her shoulder, and everyone laughed.

"Not to underestimate your opponent. Just because you have many people, doesn't mean you have the advantage," Piotr said several moments later, now serious.

Remy spread his hands wide, and nodded. "Exactly, Piotr. An' I think Kitty learned a really important one as well."

She frowned. "That sometimes our powers don't work? How'd you do that, by the way?"

Remy grinned. "Well, I knew what your power was, an' I met a phaser like you once before, an' figured your power worked similar. You van vibrate de molecules in your body around other molecules, which lets you pass through dem. I jus' used my powers to vibrate de air around me so de rate was constantly changin', an' your power couldn' adapt to each change quick enough. Bit of a risk on my part if I didn' cycle de vibration fast enough, but it worked." He said. "But yeah, your powers won' always work on your opponent, so don' bet all your chips on dem."

He nodded to Jubilee. "But, when dey do work, dey can help you a lot. If I didn' know ahead of time 'bout Jubes an' her powers, an' I hadn' seen her start usin' dem, she'd have blinded me an' dropped me in an instant. Very good, Jubilee."

She brightened at the praise – the fall to the backside and the dirt covering her from Remy's explosion had bruised her ego a bit.

Remy looked at all of them again. "Alrigh', dat's all I have today, I'll let you guys head out early."

As they brushed themselves off and began to head into the mansion, he grabbed Dani's elbow, pulling her to the side. "Your shoulder okay?" He asked, nodding to it.

She rubbed it slightly. "It'll be okay. Bobby hits like a girl," she said with a grin.

Remy chuckled along with her, and then his expression became more serious. "I noticed you didn' use your powers, Dani."

Her smile dropped, and she looked down. "What could I do with them? They're pretty useless." She said softly.

He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Dey're only useless if you make dem useless. You coulda used dem, put out a vision as some sort of distraction or somethin', couldn' ya?"

She shrugged. "I guess…. I never really thought of that."

He smiled. "Think over what you could do, an' next time I wanna see you use dem, _hein_?

She smiled slightly. "Okay. Thanks."

"No problem." He said, and let her walk past him on her way into the mansion.

Which left him with Rogue. He turned, and walked over to her. She jabbed a finger in his chest, a scowl on her face. "Jerk. Yah made me think Ah hurt yah. Ah was scared." She said, her voice breaking slightly.

"Hey, I'm sorry, _Chére_, I wanted to make a point to dem, an' I guess I didn' think to much 'bout what it'd look like for you." He said, reaching out to pull her into a soft hug.

She held on tightly. "Ah know." She finally pulled back several moments later. "Still. Don't do that to me again. Ah thought Ah'd snapped your neck or somethin'."

He kissed her forehead. "Alright, _Chére_. I won' do it again. Promise." He leaned his own forehead forward against hers for a moment. "You fought pretty good today. Almost had me when Jubes tried to blind me."

Rogue grinned. "Ah know, but Ah made a little too much noise. You were pretty good at kickin' our asses today, too. Ah think all of us needed that to get us thinkin', even if you were a big jerk." She said, but softened her comment with a smile.

"Big jerk, huh?" He asked playfully. "Well dis big jerk is lookin' forward to dinner tonight. We still on for dat?"

"Yep," Rogue replied happily, and pecked his cheek with her lips. "What should Ah wear? Ah don' wanna overdress, but you said we're goin' to a nice place."

"A nice pair of pants, an' a nice blouse should do. Dey ain' too fancy where you gotta dress up like you're goin' to church or anythin'. We'll take my bike unless you wanna wear a dress. If y'do we can snag one of de cars."

"Let's go on your bike, Ah've got more pants than any sort of skirts, anyways." Rogue smiled. "Now, if you'll excuse me, Ah need a shower after the workout you went an' put us through."

Remy tensed slightly, and smirked. "Yeah, you do smell pretty bad," he said, before springing away, running toward the back door of the mansion, avoiding the swat she aimed at him, laughing at her growl of frustration.

* * *

Hours later, had he been in her room with her, he would have heard an identical growl of frustration, although this one was not directed at him, but rather the clothes strewn around her room, covering her bed, her table, her nightstand, a few shirts even hung over her floor lamp.

She'd spent the past nearly half-hour trying to decide on something to wear – she wanted to wear something perfect for their first date, and everything she thought would work just didn't look right to her when she actually looked at herself wearing it in the mirror.

She knew she was being too picky, too perfectionist, but she couldn't help it. She sat down on her bed and rubbed her temples with her fingers – that was something Carol had pointed out to her several times during her search for the perfect outfit.

There was a light knock on her door, and then it opened, Dani poking her head inside. "Rogue? I-" she stopped, staring at the room, and Rogue sitting on her bed.

"What happened in here?" She asked, opening the door and slipping into the room, walking over to her friend. To her, it looked like a tornado had swept through the room.

"Me," Rogue muttered. "Tryin' t'find the right outfit."

Dani's eyes snapped back to Rogue. "Right outfit for what?" When Rogue didn't answer, her eyes lit up. "You're going on a date, aren't you?"

Rogue opened her mouth to protest, but as she looked up at Dani she knew her friend could read her like an open book. "Yeah, Remy's takin' me out tonight." She said, sighing.

Dani clapped her hands together, and sat down excitedly next to Rogue. "I thought so. I saw you two all cuddly together out in the lawn after PhysEd. Everyone else was inside before I got in because Remy talked to me, so I was the only one that saw it."

"Well, we're not advertising it right now. The only other person that knows is Annie."

Dani nodded. "Gotcha. Now, what's this about not finding an outfit? I see a whole bunch of these that you'd look great in," Dani said, looking around the room."

Rogue shrugged. "None of them seem right, an' Ah want to look perfect."

Dani put a hand on her shoulder. "Well then, let's find you that perfect outfit, and get you ready. You know he'll think you look perfect no matter what you wear, right? Let's find you something." Dani said, standing up and beginning to dig through the piles of clothing on the bed.

* * *

Remy absently ran the cloth over the chrome handlebars of his new Low Rider as he waited for Rogue. He was, for the first time he remembered, actually, a bit nervous about a date. In the past, he was always confident, but that was because he knew it was only going to last for a week at most with the girl he happened to be seeing. This, with Rogue, he wanted to _last_.

He dropped the cloth and fidgeted absently with his collar. He'd put on a pair of khakis – dressy enough for the place they were going, but still sensible enough for a bike ride – and a blue polo-shirt for the evening. He'd traded his trenchcoat in, for the evening, for a less-beat-up leather jacket Ororo had bought when she'd picked some clothes up for him.

"Ready?" Rogue asked softly from behind him, and he almost jumped – he'd not heard her enter the garage.

He turned around and looked over her appreciatively. She was wearing blue, close-fitting dress pants, a white v-necked blouse, white gloves that reached midway up her forearms, and a pair of low heels. She'd put on a bit more makeup than she usually wore around the mansion, and she'd swept her hair back into a tight bun, which exposed her ears and the silver stud earrings she'd put in.

He moved forward, closing the small distance. "Yeah, I'm ready. You look great, _Chére_." He said, breathing in the floral scent of her perfume as he pressed a kiss to her forehead.

She blushed, and looked down at the outfit Dani had helped her with. "Thanks."

Remy smiled, and then snagged a black helmet from a nearby workbench and passed it to her. It was a full-face helmet with a visor, and she saw he had one of his own balancing on the seat of his bike.

"You ever ridden wit' someone before?" He asked her, gesturing at his motorcycle.

She nodded. "Once. Logan took me for a ride, so Ah know all basics like how t'lean into a turn, an' get on without knockin' the bike over."

He smiled. "Good. You'll want t'be puttin' dat on, we'll go on de highway an' it'll get a bit chilly," he said, gesturing at the denim jacket she had slung over one of her arms.

She slid it on, and he continued. "Alright, I don' know how Logan got you signalin', but for me, tap me on de right shoulder if y'wan' me to slow down, twice if you need to stop. Left shoulder if y'wan' me to look at somethin'."

Rogue furrowed her brow and nodded. "Got it."

"Alrigh' den. I got us reservations in 'bout a half hour, an' den we'll go see a movie after dinner." He said.

He helped her carefully slide on her helmet without messing up her hair, and fasten it snugly before he grabbed his own and put it on. He hopped on the bike, and she placed a hand on his shoulder, balancing herself as she slid a leg over the seat and settled in behind him, placing her hands on his hips as he started the bike up.

The engine revved, and they slowly started moving, out the garage and down the driveway. As they picked up speed, she smiled when he reached back with a hand and pulled her hands from his hips so that she wrapped her arms around his chest.

* * *

Remy casually grabbed Rogue's hand as they walked down the sidewalk, and interlocked his fingers with hers. She looked up and smiled back at him, leaning slightly closer. They'd found a parking spot near the restaurant, and left the bike there.

They approached a one-story building, whose sign said "The Palm". Remy reluctantly let go of her hand and opened the door, holding it so she could enter before him.

He let the door slide shut, and they walked up to the tall oak front counter. A young brown-haired woman dressed in an elegant black dress looked up from a layout of the restaurant's tables, and greeted them with a smile. "Hi, welcome to The Palm."

"Hi, we've got a reservation for two, for Robert Lord?"

She skimmed her finger down a long written list to her left, and tapped it when she reached his name. "Yes, we have you here." She grabbed two menus and looked up at them. "Follow me, please."

Rogue glanced around the restaurant as they were lead toward their table. It was well lit, with high ceilings, and expensive hardwood floor, giving it a very upscale feel. Well-dressed couples and groups that appeared to be out for business dinners sat at white tablecloth-covered tables around the large dining area.

They reached a small, round table, and she let Remy hold her seat out for her as she sat down – for all his roguishness, he could also be quite a gentleman.

He sat down across from her, and the woman poured water into two glasses and placed them in front of him. "Take your time to look over the menus, and your waiter will be along shortly."

Remy nodded, and picked up his own menu, opening it, leaning forward slightly, his eyes skimming down the list methodically, picking out dishes that caught his attention.

He glanced up at her as she looked over the menu, noting fondly the cute crease near the bridge of her nose that showed up when she was closely examining something. "You want an appetizer, _Chére_?"

She looked up at him. "The jumbo shrimp cocktail does look kind of good…" She said, somewhat hesitantly, having seen the prices of each dish: the cheapest entree she'd seen was a little over twenty dollars.

He smiled reassuringly to her, and somehow could tell exactly what her concern was. "Jus' ignore de prices, Rogue. Get what you want an' not what costs de least – it ain' gonna hurt my wallet a bit."

She relaxed, and mentally shook her head, wondering how he'd known what she'd been thinking.

Eventually a distinguished-looking older man dressed smartly in a suit approached them. "Good evening, my name is Jerry, and I'll be your waiter this evening. Could I get you an appetizer, or something to drink?"

Remy shot Rogue a glance, and she nodded, closing her menu. "Actually, we're ready to order."

Jerry smiled, and pulled out a small pad of paper and a pen. "What can I get for you, miss?" He asked, looking to Rogue.

"Ah'd like the Prime Aged New York Strip, with a baked potato for the side."

He nodded, jotting it down. "And how would you like that done?"

"Medium-rare," she said, handing him her menu.

"And you sir?"

"I'd like de peppercorn-crusted Ahi Tuna steak, an' a baked potato. We'd also like an order of your Jumbo Shrimp for an appetizer."

Jerry smiled, and then looked between the two of them. "And what could I get you to drink? Could I interest in you in our wine list?"

Remy nodded. "We'd like a bottle of your 1993 Cabernet Sauvignon," Remy said after skimming down the list.

Rogue shot him a look, but the waiter missed it. "Okay, thank you," Jerry said. "I'll be out shortly with your appetizer."

As he left, Rogue looked over to Remy. "Remy," she whispered, leaning closer across the table. "Ah'm not twenty-one."

He smiled. "Dey don' check dat at a place like dis. I jus' got it because it goes good wit' both our dishes. If y'don' want any, y'don' have to drink any."

Moments later, Jerry returned with two wine-glasses and a bottle of wine. He removed the cork, and poured a small amount into one of the glasses, and handed it to Remy.

Rogue watched Remy hold the glass out at an angle and look at it, before swirling it and bringing it near his face before he took a sip. He smiled, and nodded to Jerry, handing his glass back to him.

Jerry poured the wine into each glass, and placed them in front of both of them, and left the table to get their cocktail.

Rogue looked at Remy curiously. "What was that all about?" She asked him.

"Dat?" He asked, gesturing to the wine glass. "You never tasted wine before," he said, realizing it just then.

She shook her head, and he smiled, leaning forward eagerly. "Well, let's give you a lesson in dat. Wine tastin' isn' just 'bout de taste of de wine, but also 'bout de smell, an' de look of de wine."

He picked up his glass, and gestured for her to pick up hers. "De first thing you do is look at de color, an' you usually do dat against a white background – dat's why all of de restaurants like dese dat serve good wine always have a white tablecloth. Now, hold it at a bit of an angle, an' look at de edge – what's de color?"

She did, and looked back up. "Sort of an orangish purple."

He nodded. "Dat's a sign of a good wine – de more colorful it is, de older it is. If dis was pale, or brown, I woulda asked him for a different bottle, because dat means it's not going to taste as good. Now, swirl de glass." He swirled his own, and she followed suit. "Now, dis is a thicker wine, look at de way it acts. If it acts watery, it'll be more runny, an' when it acts like dis, it's a good sign."

Rogue nodded, listening to him with fascination – this was something else she'd never known he was so experienced in, and she found that she enjoyed learning from him.

"After dat, you take a little sniff, den a slightly deeper one. What does it smell like?"

Rogue brought it up to her nose, and inhaled. She frowned in thought. "It smells sweet, but with a bit of spiciness in it."

Remy nodded, smiling broadly. "Now take a little sip and swirl it around your mouth so it hits all your tastebuds."

Rogue raised the glass to her lips and took a small sip. Her eyes lit up as she tasted it – it was unlike anything she'd ever tried before. "It tastes really good," she said after she swallowed it. "Ah could taste the fruitiness, an' it was a little bitter, an' it was almost like Ah could taste some chocolate in there."

Remy grinned. "Yep. Dat's what I tasted too. Lots of times it has an extra taste to it dat is like other things you've eaten instead of de wine itself. Dis one is good, an' de bitterness gets canceled out by de fats in de steak you're gonna eat, an' by de pepper on my Ahi steak, so it goes really well wit' dat sort of food."

Rogue smiled and took another sip. "You know a lot 'bout wine." She commented.

Remy nodded. "My _pére _is a big wine man, an' I learned a lot from him. He's got a huge cellar b'neath one of his homes north of N'awlins – gotta have at least a few million dollars worth of rare wines down dere." Remy said, reaching out and grabbing a large shrimp from a platter and dipping it into cocktail sauce.

Rogue looked at it in surprise, and realized she'd not even noticed their waiter come back with it while Remy was talking to her. She reached out and grabbed one of her own, settling back into her chair as Remy talked animatedly about his father's house.

* * *

By the end of their dinner, they'd finished most of the bottle of wine, and they were eating the last few bites of lemon meringue pie that they'd shared for dessert.

Remy looked at her with a bit of concern as she stabbed clumsily into the pie, smearing off a piece that she popped into her mouth. He'd noticed that as dinner went on, especially as they finished their main course, she'd become more bubbly, and started giggling quite frequently as they talked – something she didn't normally do.

"_Chére_, slow down dere," he said, placing a hand over hers as she reached out for her wineglass. "I think you've had enough of dat."

She blinked, and then nodded. "Maybe you're right." She said, moving instead for her water. "Am Ah drunk?" She asked him, stabbing unsuccessfully at the pie.

He smiled, and pushed the pie to her side of the plate. "A little tipsy, I think. You did start drinkin' on an empty stomach after all." He said. "Eat dat up, you need t'make sure y'got stuff in you so y'don' get any worse."

As Rogue finished eating, Jerry cleared away the last of their plates and set the bill next to Remy. "Thank you for letting us serve you this evening sir."

Remy flashed him a smile. "Thanks, it was really good."

When Rogue finished off her glass of water, Remy stood, and pulled out his wallet. He peeled out two hundred dollar bills and tucked them into the black folder that contained their bill.

He pulled out Rogue's chair for her, and helped her to her feet. She swayed slightly, and threaded her arm through his to keep her balance as they walked out the restaurant.

"If Ah didn' know better, Ah'd think you were tryin' to get me drunk, Mr. LeBeau," she said, poking him in the chest with a finger, grinning up at him, as they walked down the street.

He rubbed a hand up and down the arm she had entwined with his. "_Non_, _Chére_, I wasn't tryin' t'get you drunk." He poked her back. "Much too early for dat. Maybe on de second date." He said, grinning.

Rogue sighed and leaned her head onto his shoulder as they neared a large Cineplex building, glad that he was still steadying her. She felt slightly lightheaded, and not completely sure of her feet, and an overwhelming feeling of contentment that was the result of more than just the alcohol she'd drank.

They came to a halt in front of a ticket window, and Remy looked down at her. "What d'you wanna see, _Chére_?"

Rogue ran her eyes across the list of showtimes, and her eyes alighted on a particular one. "Let's watch Brotherhood of the Wolf," she said, leaning into him.

Remy's eyebrows rose. "Hmm, you're a horror girl?"

Rogue smiled, and tucked her head further into his shoulder. "Yeah. Always have been. Ah heard this one was pretty good – it's actually a French film."

Remy smiled. "Well, dat's somethin' I never really 'spected – most girls I've dated hate horror." He said, moving forward and ordering two tickets for the next showing. He handed the clerk the money for them, and palmed the tickets.

"Well, Ah'm not most girls," Rogue said, looking up with a sly smile.

Remy laughed, and handed the attendant at the door their tickets. "_Non_, you're much better," he said, whispering into her ear as they walked toward the door that was showing their movie.

* * *

Rogue released Remy's hand as they stopped next to her door at the mansion. They'd both enjoyed the movie, particularly when Remy raised up the armrest and pulled her closer to him so they could watch snuggled close together.

By the time the movie had finished, she was no longer tipsy, and they'd had no problem getting back. Remy drove them back at a slower pace than they'd come, savoring the feeling of Rogue pressed up behind him on the bike with her arms around him.

"Well, here you are," Remy said quietly – it was past eleven, and most people were either still down in the living room, or already in bed: they'd managed to sneak in without anyone seeing them.

Rogue smiled. "Thanks for this, Remy. Ah had a great time."

He grinned back lightly. "I did too, Rogue."

Rogue glanced both ways down the hall, and then he found himself being yanked suddenly inside her room. She pulled him into an intense kiss, her hands gripping the front of his leather jacket tightly to pull him against her.

They broke apart well over a minute later, and Remy gently touched the bare skin between the sleeve of her blouse and her gloves and pulled his charge back into himself.

He smiled, still panting, and leaned his forehead against hers. "I take it dat means I don' have to worry 'bout whether or not you want t'go on another date?"

Rogue laughed, and pressed her lips, briefly this time, to his. "Ah think that's a pretty safe assumption to make." She said playfully.

She reached up a hand and ran it across his jawline. "Ah really meant it, Remy. Thank yah. Ah don' think Ah've ever had this much fun with someone before."

He reached his own hand up and grabbed hers in it. "I know what you mean, _Chére_," he said. "I feel de same way."

Rogue sighed and pulled back. "Ah better change, an' get to sleep. Ah've got class early in th'mornin'. See you at breakfast?"

Remy smiled and kissed her one final time, on the forehead. "Alright. You get your sleep, don' wanna be de cause of you gettin' bad grades. Sweet dreams."

As Remy left, and Rogue sat down on her bed, she smiled – she didn't think they'd be anything but sweet after the night she'd had with him.

* * *

_**A/N: Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I definitely enjoyed writing it. ;). Now have a general idea of what I'll be doing with the Ororo/Logan/Jean triangle, but nothing will be happening anytime soon, so expect quite a bit more Logan angst as the story goes on. Oh, and yes, Brotherhood of the Wolf is a real movie (although it was released quite a while ago - 8 years or so), and one of my favorites so I couldn't resist putting it in.**_

_**I actually spent the first part of this week pondering the future of this story (plot, etc.) as we near the climax of the movie in the story. I'd only had one idea earlier that would have kept this going a number of chapters (the Creed part of the storyline) after Alctraz, and in the course of a few days I had a bit of a breakthrough idea-wise, and I've started to spin together an even more intricate plot to convert some other comic storylines (some of my favorites that I wish had been in the movies) into a more movie-verse form like I've done here with the Morlock Massacre, etc..**_

_**Right now, I'm seeing roughly 30-40 chapters total (likely closer to the high end than the low end) likely by the end of this fic, so if anyone was worrying about me just ending this at the end of X3, don't. :)**_

_**Anyway, enough ranting: next chapter will be more Romy, and probably more plot (movie-wise), as we see more of just what Rogue changed by absorbing Jean.**_


	18. Chapter 18: Declarations of War

_**Disclaimer: X-men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway ;)**_

_A/N: Thanks for all the great feedback last chap. On with the story:_

**Chapter 18: Declarations of War**

* * *

Remy shut Rogue's door behind him, very happy with their evening together. He hadn't just been agreeing with her – it was one of the best times he'd had on a date.

As he moved down the hall, he spotted Sarah's door, open a crack, move shut quickly as he looked in that direction. He chuckled – she'd obviously been watching him and Rogue get back through the crack in the door.

He strode over, and opened the door suddenly, and she let out a startled squeak and fell back from the door and landed on her backside. Remy shook his head, chuckling, and helped her back up.

"Y'gonna need t'get better at spyin' 'round me if y'don' wanna get caught, _petite_. What're you doin' still up? You got school tomorrow."

Sarah blushed. "I couldn't get to sleep. And then I heard you and Rouge getting back, so I looked out my door." Sarah smiled. "Was _this_ one a date?" She asked innocently.

Remy scooped her up, and carried her over to her bed. "_Oui_, _petite_," he said, setting her down on her bed. "We had dinner an' saw a movie."

Remy pulled the covers up to her chin, tucking her into her bed. He then sat down next to her, leaning back against the headboard. "I'll stay here 'till you get t'sleep," he said, reaching down to run his hand through her hair.

Sarah yawned, and her eyes drooped at the rhythmic stroking of her head, and he could tell it hadn't been that she couldn't get to sleep, but rather that she'd stayed up to see when he got back with Rogue.

"Okay, Remy," she muttered. A few moments later she looked up at him sleepily. "Remy? Did you have fun? Is Rogue your girlfriend now?"

"We had a lot of fun. And yeah, she is my girlfriend now, Sarah," he said softly.

Sarah smiled. "Good." She whispered as she drifted to sleep.

* * *

"Ugh," Jubilee groaned aloud the next morning as they left the classroom. They'd just left their Modern Physics class. It was mostly run on-line from the local community college, but Xavier had stepped in and begun lectures for them to help them through it.

"I can't believe we've got a test on the Monday after our break." She complained.

"I know," Dani said. "At least the professor tried to convince them to change it. But it 'wouldn't be fair to the other online students'." She said with a sigh.

"We should set up study sessions all this week," Rogue suggested, her eyes lighting up. "That way we can do all that now, an' not worry about it durin' break next week."

A smile grew on Jubilee's face. "If we really focus on it this week, we'd only need to brush up on the day before. Good idea, chica." She winked at Rogue. "I'll go tell Kitty and the others so we can figure out a time to study together." She said, giving them a short wave, and turning to walk in the other direction where Kitty, Piotr, Sam, and Bobby had gone.

Dani grabbed Rogue's arm and pulled her closer so they were walking shoulder to shoulder. "So?" She whispered, "How'd it go?"

"Great," Rogue said, a smile growing on her face. "Everythin' was perfect. We went to a great restaurant, an' he bought us dinner, an' then we went t'see a movie."

Dani smiled back as they finished climbing the stairs and reached their rooms. Rogue opened her door, and Dani followed her in, closing it behind her. "Sounds like fun. Sounds _romantic_." She said, stressing the word. "So, dish – I assume you've kissed – he a good kisser?"

Rogue blushed. "We have, a few times," she admitted. "And he's wonderful kisser. Makes me feel like there's nothin' else goin' on around us."

Dani grinned broadly. "Good. I figured he would be, seemed like he was pretty experienced. How d'you get past your, you know, your powers and all that?"

Rogue sighed. "They're a pain, but Ah'd been workin' with him since the weekend after he came here on controllin' mah powers, an' we've gotten it so Ah can touch him for almost a minute an' a half now. An' then, Ah absorb his powers, an' have a hard time controllin' them, so he pretty pulls th'charge Ah have back into himself, an' gets most of his energy back." She shrugged. "It doesn' seem t'bother him, an' Ah'm just glad t'get that much at a time."

Dani placed a hand on her shoulder, giving her a knowing look. "You'll get the hang of it eventually, Rogue."

Rogue shot her a grateful smile. "Ah know. Th'Professor thinks Ah'm already doin' a lot better."

Dani patted her back, and shot her a smile. "So, the other reason I wanted to talk, besides grilling you on your date, was I was wondering if you still wanted to go home with me on break."

Rogue looked at her hesitantly. "Ah – Ah'd like to, it sounds fun, but Ah'm not sure what Remy's plannin'."

Dani's forehead creased. "Remy?"

Rogue slapped a hand over her mouth, and then sighed. "Remy is Gambit's real name. He doesn' usually tell people it, but Ah've just got so used to it that Ah'm startin' to use it all the time."

Dani's eyes widened, and she nodded with understanding. "Gotcha. Why don't you ask him if he's planning anything for you two, and if he isn't, let me know and I'll book you a ticket and let my parents know. I already talked to them and they said they'd be glad to have you over."

Rogue smiled hesitantly. "Thanks, Dani." She said, giving her a hug.

"You're welcome," she said. "Now, I've gotta get going – I'll be downstairs in the living room. Rahne's finishing up her history report, and she asked me to look it over for her."

Rogue nodded. "Alright, have fun." She said, smiling as Dani left. She thought it was rather cute how Dani had befriended the shy Scottish girl when she'd first arrived at the school, and had started a mentor-like relationship with her.

She knew Xavier, with the start of the new school year in several months – and the influx of students coming next fall, was planning to start a sort of mentorship/advisor program with the both faculty and older students becoming mentors for the younger kids, and she knew Dani would be insisting that Rahne be one of her advisees.

After Dani had left, Rogue's next stop was to find Remy. She looked around the mansion, and eventually found him in the gym, finishing a set of crunches.

He smiled at her when he saw her enter, and pulled himself to his feet. His hair was sweaty, as was his shirt, and he wiped himself down quickly with a towel.

"Hey, _Chére_," he said, walking up to her.

"Hi," she greeted him, planting a kiss on his cheek.

"You lookin' for me, or jus' here to work out?" He asked her softly.

"Lookin' for you, actually. Ah was talkin' with Dani, about break next week. An' Ah didn' know if you were plannin' anythin', or….." she trailed of questioningly.

Remy nodded. "You wanna know if you should go wit' Dani to Colorado."

Rogue smiled. "Yeah. Ah just, didn' know if you wanted t'hang out here with me, or what."

Remy dropped his towel so it hung around his shoulders. "Well, I didn' really plan anythin', _Chére_. Figure I'd like t'spend some time wit' Stormy while we ain' caught up in teachin' classes. Y'should go wit' Dani. I t'ink y'could use de time away from dis place."

Rogue nodded, but frowned slightly. "Ah'd like t'spend time with you too, though."

Remy grinned. "Ask Dani what all you'll be doin' an' let me know, an' I might come out dere for part of de week. I'm sure Sarah'd like to visit Colorado, maybe try skiing."

Rogue's face brightened. "Really?"

Remy nodded. "Yeah. Tell Dani not t'worry, I'll take care of gettin' a hotel room for me an' Sarah an' all dat."

Rogue kissed his cheek. "Ah'll let yah know what she says."

Remy smiled and pulled her closer into a brief kiss. "You go do dat – I gotta take a shower."

* * *

"So this is where you're hiding out," Annie said, walking up behind Ororo. Ororo had no classes to teach that morning, so she'd taken a walk outside, and was sitting on one of the benches near the edge of the forest, staring out into the trees.

Ororo turned her head and smiled. "Oh, Annie." She said, a smile passing over her face. "Join me."

Annie sat down on the bench next to her, and Ororo looked at her curiously. "How are you feeling?"

"Better." Annie said. "Long as I keep up on the pain meds it doesn't feel like I have a huge lump on my head." Annie had ended up with a concussion, but thankfully nothing worse.

"So what're you doing way out here?" Annie asked her friend.

Ororo sighed. "I like to come out here and think. I love all the plants, and being out here helps me relax."

"And let me guess, you're thinking about Logan, and about Jean, am I right?" Annie asked softly, her concern clearly written on her face.

Ororo sighed and looked away, back into the forest. "Yeah." She admitted. "I don't know how to feel. I'm so happy Jean's still alive – she's one of my closest friends. We practically grew up together from when we were teens and Charles took us in."

"But… I feel awful, because a part of me wishes she hadn't come back, right when it seemed like Logan and I might have some sort of chance together, and now it's gone."

Annie patted her leg. "Ororo, you don't know that."

Ororo shook her head. "No, Annie, he loves her. I know that. I've seen it."

Annie gripped her shoulder, forcing her to turn and look at her. "He loves you too. That's what _I've_ seen since I've been here. You can't just give it up because Jean ended up being alive. He's going to have to choose, and it'll be hard for him, but if you just give it up, you're making that choice for him."

Annie sighed and looked away. "He's a good man, Ororo, a little gruff and not that good at showing emotions, but after what was done to him, who can blame him? But I know he has feelings for you. I wish I could meet someone I could say even that about."

Ororo pulled her legs up, her knees to her chest, and wrapped her arms around them, staring silently into the forest.

They sat there silently, for at least several dozen minutes, before Ororo finally turned to look at Annie. She shot her a grateful smile, her eyes suspiciously wet. "Thanks, Annie." She sighed. "You're right. I can't just give up. If it's meant to happen between us it will."

Annie smiled, glad that she'd at least started to pull her friend out of the funk she'd been in since they'd found Jean. "I think things'll work out for you. Now, let's go inside and get some lunch together before you have to teach."

Ororo nodded, and stood, the skies which had been growing overcast all morning, unconsciously influenced by her mood, suddenly brightening as the clouds above them began to break up.

* * *

"Alright, y'all," Remy said to the group of students gathered with him outside. They'd just gone through his roll sheet, and he was mentally filing away the names of each with an image of their faces.

Now that he was covering all the Shop and PhysEd classes, rather than a class here or there, this was the first time he'd taught this group. In age, they were in between the younger kids he'd taught, of which Sarah was now a part of, and the group that Rogue, Dani, and the others were part of. They were basically the high-school class, and he hadn't really gotten to know any of them during his short time at the school.

"Today, we're jus' gonna have some fun." Remy said, tipping over a large cloth bag he'd taken out with them. "Who here hasn't played dodge ball before?" He asked. He glanced around and no hands went up, and he bent down to the dodgeballs he'd tipped out of the bag, and tossed them down on the ground.

"Alrigh' I'll let you guys pick teams. Phoebe, you're de captain of one team," he said, nodding to a blond girl who stood next to her other two identical triplets. "An' Julian, you're de other captain." He said, pointing to a tall, black-haired teen.

Invariably, Phoebe picked one of her sisters, and Julian picked the other – Remy chuckled at that as the teams were quickly chosen – it would be harder as the girls on either side would know what the other was going to do, if Storms notes she'd given Remy on their powers were right, with the three girls possessing a sort of psychic "hive mind".

Remy leaned back against a bench, watching them get into several rather intense games. Other than Mindee, Julian had chosen an all-boy team, and Phoebe had ended up with a team of mostly girls, all of whom, it seemed, wanted to take the cocky Julian down a notch or two.

Remy finally stood when the second match wound down as the ball hit Julian soundly on the foot. "Dat was a fair hit, Julian you're out, Phoebe's team wins again. Nice throw, Cessily." He said, grinning at the silver-skinned girl who'd been the last person on her team, and she smiled shyly back – and he was pretty sure he saw a darkening of her metallic cheeks in a blush.

"Alright. I know I tol' you to play, but you guys are goin' bout it all wrong. Y'should be usin' your powers, an' having more fun wit' de game."

A brown-haired girl barely in her teens, with reddish markings almost like tattoos running in thin lines and designs across her body, raised her hand.

"Yeah, Alani?"

"Professor Gambit, you didn't tell us we _could_. When Professor Summers always did PE class, he wouldn't let us use our powers because we ended up destroying all the equipment."

"Well, you'll find I'm a lot diff'rent den Professor Summers. An' if Professor Xavier complains 'bout it bein' too expensive, I'll buy de gear m'self. You're still young, an' y'deserve t'have some fun. So let's do it again. Jus' don' hurt each other when y'doin' it. I don' want Annie hollerin' at me."

Alani giggled behind her hand, and moved back to her side and got ready. Remy gave the signal to go, and they began playing once more. They still seemed a bit hesitant, as if they were wondering if he was simply testing them to see if they would actually use their powers when they really shouldn't.

Finally, Santo – a large, hulking boy with rocklike skin – sent a ball whistling across the field toward Cessily. Remy saw her glance to him for a split second, before she literally melted into a puddle of liquid mercury, the ball flying well above her head and striking a tree in the distance. She shaped her arm like a catapult, picked up her own ball in it, and hurled it back at the other team.

It seemed to break the mood, and very quickly they all began to use their powers. Remy grinned with satisfaction. He could tell immediately that they were enjoying themselves much more than before. His attention was drawn away, when out of the corner of his eye he saw, around the corner of the mansion, a black sedan pulling up the driveway – he instantly recognized it as a government car.

He waved to the kids. "Keep on playin', I'll be right back. Don' kill each other while I'm gone."

'_This could be interesting_,' he thought to himself, as he jogged around the corner of the building. '_At least it ain't S.H.I.E.L.D. here, pissed off about me impersonating an agent – if it was they'd be here with capture teams and helicopters._'

Remy stopped at the front of the circular drive, fingering a deck of cards in his pocket, as the car pulled up. He instantly recognized the blue-furred man that stepped out, carrying a briefcase and a large duffel bag.

Remy nodded in greeting as the car slowly drove off. "_Bonjour_. Hank, wasn't it?"

He nodded. "Hello again. Storm's friend." He looked thoughtfully at him for a moment. "Ah yes, Gambit."

"Hank," Xavier's voice came from the front door as he wheeled out. "I sense you arriving. It's good to see you again so soon. How are things faring at the White House?"

Hanks expression turned grim. "That's actually what I'm here to talk about. Could you gather the X-men? I bring much news, and you all need to hear it."

Xavier nodded – the stray thoughts coming from Hank were somewhat alarming. He closed his eyes and concentrated for several moments. He opened them again. "Come, Hank. I've called everyone, we'll meet down in the mission room to talk." He looked to Remy. "Gambit, if you'd join us-"

Remy nodded. "I'll be down in a few. I gotta let my class know we're done for de day."

Xavier nodded, and Remy began to walk back around the mansion while Charles and Hank moved inside. As Remy rounded the corner, he found the game had dwindled down to the triplets: Phoebe and Celeste versus Mindee, and since they were using their powers, neither side seemed to be able to land a hit on the other as they already knew what was coming.

Remy cleared his throat. "Alrigh', everyone. I'm lettin' you off de hook early today. If y'all wanna keep playin', go ahead. Jus' put all de dodgeballs dat survive back by de door. Hope you all had fun today."

"It was really fun," Cessily said with a smile.

"Good. See y'all in shop class tomorrow." Remy said, and left them to their game.

* * *

"Hank! I'm surprised to see you back so early," Ororo said as she entered the room. Everyone else had gathered – Remy had entered the room in front of her, and she was the last one in.

She sat down next to Remy, who'd taken a seat next to Rogue at one of the last empty chairs. "I'd have expected you to still be in Washington."

Hank cleared his throat. "Yes, well, that's why I'm here. I've resigned from my position." He held up his hand when Ororo looked at him in shock and opened her mouth to speak.

"Let me first explain. If you've listened to the news, there was an accident in a convoy of government vehicles several days ago. What they haven't said was that it was Magneto. He attacked a convoy carrying Mystique and a number of other high-level mutant criminals."

"During the course of the 'rescue', one of the guards shot Mystique with a tranquilizer gun equipped with darts containing the Cure. Apparently all of the guards were provided with these weapons. Magneto left her behind and we recovered her, but we know that he freed several of the prisoners."

"Should've known it wouldn't be long before the government got its hands on the Cure," Kitty said.

"Indeed. And that was the main reason for my resignation. I was the Secretary of Mutant Affairs, and no one thought it sensible to tell me they'd turned the cure into a weapon. They were simply making major policy decisions without informing me, let alone getting my input on the reaction from the mutant community. This is going to escalate once word gets out, and I'm afraid Magneto will gain a much stronger backing for whatever private little war he wants to start."

Logan shook his head in disgust at the whole situation, but he wasn't extremely surprised. He knew firsthand the sort of things a part of the government could get up to without anyone else knowing about it.

Xavier cleared his throat. "Thank you, Hank, for letting us know all this. If you'd like to stay here, you are certainly welcome."

Xavier looked around the room. "I've been meaning to call a meeting myself for several days now, but things have been quite hectic. When I was in Washington at the debates, I discovered some rather disturbing facts."

"During the debate, I scanned the mind of Graydon Creed. I discovered that he is, in part, a major secret backer of the main anti-mutant groups out there: Friends of Humanity, Church of Humanity, pretty much any anti-mutant group you've heard of on the news. A childhood friend of his is the leader of the Purifiers."

"I also 'saw' a conversation in which he hired the mercenaries that killed the mutants in the tunnels in New York." He said grimly.

There were several moments of shocked silence. "How – how does no one know this? Wouldn't the media or something find evidence of at least some of it?" Bobby asked, speaking up for the first time.

Xavier shook his head. "Apparently he runs much of his business through his assistant, and uses some very hidden money sources in dummy corporations to do the funding. From what I could tell he is pulling the strings on every group – they say what he wants them to say."

"We have to let someone know. Everyone has to know that they're voting for someone that killed all those mutants." Piotr said.

Xavier spread his hands out in a placating gesture. "Therein lies the problem, Kitty. I can't exactly tell people that I am a psychic mutant, who happened to put Creed under a mental scan without his knowledge. Quite simply, no one would believe me, and even worse, would say that being a mutant, I have a motive to lie about such a strong anti-mutant candidate to get him out of the running. We need to obtain actual, physical evidence of what he's been doing."

"How'd you know to look into this creeps mind like that?" Logan asked – something was missing, he just wasn't sure what it was.

Xavier cleared his throat. "He was broadcasting-"

Remy, who'd been silently shuffling a deck of cards together, slammed it down on the table and looked up from his hands. "He knew because I knew, an' I tol' him about Creed bein' behind de killings in New York, an' he decided t'make sure." He shook his head at Xavier. "Thanks, but it's alright, Charles."

Rogue's eyes widened, knowing instantly what Remy was doing.

"How did you know Creed was behind that?" Kitty asked, her face scrunched up in confusion.

Remy took a deep breath, steeling himself for his confession. They all deserved to know, and maybe letting it out would help reduce the dreams he had about it, he thought.

"You all know I am, or 'least was, a professional thief. I wasn' just hired t'steal things – lots of times I got hired to case a place an' tell dem how to get in – dat way dey don' have to give me as big of a share. Creeds assistant – didn' know who he was at de time – hired me to find de entrance to, an' case dese tunnels beneath a big bank, so dey could blow a hole in de bottom of de vault an' get away wit' everythin' inside."

Remy sighed, and Rogue reached over, placing a hand on his arm, and squeezing it gently. "Dey asked me for a map, an' I gave it to dem. When I went t'get my money, I heard Creed's assistant talkin' to someone on de phone, an' I found out dey weren't really after de bank – dey were after de mutants in dose tunnels."

Remy clenched his fists on the table. "When I got dere, dey were almost finished. Far as I know, only Sally made it out on her own. I found Sarah down dere, scared as hell, about to be killed, an' I think dose two were de only ones dat made it out alive. I was de one dat blew up de entrance to trap de bastards down dere. Dey tried to take me out later on to keep things quiet – dat's how I got shot when I came here. Saw his assistant at a rally de other day an' recognized him, an' told Charles."

He glanced around the room, and Ororo put an arm around his back from her seat next to him. "Figure it's only right dat you know, bein' on de same team."

Logan sighed and rubbed at his temple with one hand. It explained why he hadn't wanted to talk much about the job that had wound up getting him shot. He certainly didn't hold anything against him – he knew what it was like to be used like that.

"Don't beat yourself up over it, kid." He said quietly. "You ain't the first person that's been fooled by someone like that. If y'think about it, if it weren't for you, we wouldn't even have a clue about Creed."

Remy spread his hands out helplessly. "I know, but dat don' exactly help me sleep at night."

Logan grunted, and nodded in understanding. He slid his gaze across the room to Bobby who had surprisingly been quietly sitting there the entire time. He would have expected at least some sort of outburst from him at the confession – some sort of 'told-you-so'.

Bobby, however, was simply staring at Rogue's hand still on Remy's arm. Logan was surprised to smell not jealousy coming off of him, but rather a sort of resignation toward the sight, and even a bit of – '_is that sympathy?_' Logan wondered to himself. It certainly surprised him – perhaps Bobby could actually be more grown-up than what he'd shown in the past few weeks.

Xavier cleared his throat. "Thank you Gambit." He could feel the thoughts coming from the others, and no one really held any blame against Remy, as far as he could tell, so he thought it was best to wrap up their conversation.

"What're we gonna do about Creed, Professor?" Rogue asked quietly, drawing everyone's attention from Remy.

"I managed to pull a few locations of Friends of Humanity groups, and more importantly one of the bases of the Purifiers. I think we may need to have several break-in missions, as much as I dislike the idea. We need to find something – somewhere that someone got careless and left evidence of Creed's backing. I didn't have the time to fully scan him without looking like I was spacing out at the debate, but from the deepest I went, I know that he's up to a lot, and none of his projects with the groups are good news for mutants."

"I'll have Gambit and Logan look over some of the locations and get an idea of what we'll need. Perhaps we will check one out this weekend." He smiled at the younger X-men. "Or at least those of us that will not be vacationing."

"I will call another meeting once we know more, but right now, I'm afraid Erik may be a bigger threat if he starts something over this weaponized cure." He glanced over at Beast. "Hank, you're welcome to stay here as long as you like. Ororo can show you to a room. I'd best be going – I have several private sessions with students this afternoon."

With that, the meeting broke up. Piotr stood, and walked over to Remy. "Thank you for trusting us with your story, Gambit." He said with a sympathetic smile. "I'm sure it wasn't easy for you."

Remy nodded back, grateful that no one had turned on him at the news. "Thanks."

Rogue shot Remy a glance, and he smiled back weakly. "S'alright. Feels good to get it out in de open." He sighed and stood. "I'm gonna see if my PhysEd class left any dodgeballs undamaged. Wanna join me?" He asked quietly.

Rogue nodded with a soft smile, and followed him out of the room. Hank's gaze followed them out, before he turned it to Ororo. "He seems rather guilt-ridden over this." He commented. "Much more than he should be."

Ororo nodded sadly. "That's the way he is. He doesn't want to admit it, but I know he blames himself fully for each mutant that died, even though he didn't know what was happening until it was too late."

Hank nodded in understanding and then stood, proffering an arm to her, and she laced her own through his. "So, tell me what else is new around here while you show me to my room."

Ororo smiled slightly. "Oh, there's definitely a lot new around here." She took a deep breath. "Hank, I have something to tell you. It's about Jean."

* * *

Sarah dashed happily out of Charles' office at the end of their first session together working on her powers. The first thing she wanted to do was to find Remy.

Being with Sally again, someone she knew, had helped her enormously in adapting to the school, and she found that she really enjoyed being there, learning. Her favorite classes, of course, were the ones Remy taught, although Storm's were a close second.

Sarah waved quickly to Sally and Rahne as she passed them in the hall. Sally and Rahne had become friends during their time at the school, and Sarah had quickly clicked with her as well. She also enjoyed listening to the shy girl's funny accent as she talked.

All of the others her age were nice enough, but she hadn't really gotten to know anyone else aside from Carter, who she started to get to know after Remy had invited Carter and his mom, Annie, to eat dinner with them several nights ago.

Carter, whose last name she couldn't even pronounce, let alone spell, was funny, always trying to tell a new joke, or do something funny. He was nice – for a boy, that is, Sarah thought to herself.

Sarah finally spotted Remy coming out of his room, and raced over to him, grabbing him in a firm hug.

Remy staggered back as she ran into him at full speed. "Whoah dere, _petite_, what's up? You're sure in a good mood," he said, tousling her hair. She loved it when he did that.

"Remy!" She said with a large smile. "Watch."

Her eyes scrunched up in concentration, and suddenly the bony spikes covering her body extended themselves several inches, and then pulled back to their original state, and repeated the process several times.

She stopped, and looked back up at Remy, who grinned broadly down at her. "Dat's great, _petite_. Did you learn dat wit' de Professor?"

Sarah nodded happily. "Yeah. We just had our session, an' we worked on controllin' my powers, an' I was able to make them grow like that, an' the Professor said I was already doing really good, an' he thinks that if I keep on practicing with it I'll get even better, an' it might not be long before I can get them to shrink an' then I can make them come out only when I want them to, an' we're workin' on my shooting them out of my hands too, but we couldn't get it to work again yet." Sarah said rapidly, before gasping in a large breath.

Remy laughed happily, and put a finger to her lips. "Whoah dere, _petite_, slow down. Y'need to breathe. Dat's good news." He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I'm proud of you, Sarah." He said, and she beamed happily, and hugged him again.

He reached down and picked her up, planting his forehead against hers as she settled into his arms. "We should celebrate, _petite_. How 'bout tomorrow, when y'get out of class, Rogue an' I give you y'first horse-ride?"

Sarah smiled widely. "Really?"

Remy nodded. "Really."

Sarah threw her arms around his neck hugging him so tightly he began to feel a need for oxygen, and then she loosened her grip. "That'd be really fun, Remy. But can't we go now?" She asked, giving him a cute pout.

Remy groaned. "Don' you go makin' dat bahbin at me, _petite_. It's already gettin' dark out, an' you'd only get a little bit of time on de horse if we did it now."

Sarah wrinkled her nose. "What's a '_bahbin_'?"

Remy chuckled and tapped her lower lip. "It's dis expression you use when y'try t'get me to do somethin' an' I say I ain' gonna. It's a Cajun word."

"Oh," She said, nodding in understanding. She looked him in the eyes. "You promise we'll go tomorrow?"

Remy smiled and kissed her on the nose. "I promise. Now, I was jus' headin' down to de livin' room t'watch some TV wit' Rogue. You wanna come wit' me, or are you gonna keep poutin' up here?

Sarah's pout disappeared instantaneously, replaced with a smile. "Let's go watch TV," she said innocently.

He laughed, and set her down, taking her hand as he began to walk down the stairs. As they reached the living room, a large group had already gathered around the TV, from Ororo and Hank, who sat in the back of the room, to a number of the younger students.

Rogue had saved him a spot on the couch, and she waved to them when she caught sight of them. Remy moved forward, noting that the television was switched to CNN, which was holding election coverage. '_That's right, the republican primary in Pennsylvania is tonight_.' Remy thought to himself, as a large map appeared on the screen and was manipulated by John King – it showed the counties that had already begun to count the votes – the polls had closed just minutes before.

Remy sad down next to Rogue, and Sarah jumped up onto his lap. She smiled over to Rogue. "Rogue," she said in an excited whisper, trying not to disturb those listening to the television. "Watch me."

Sarah again focused, and caused the bone growths on her arm to gain nearly three inches in length before shrinking back down.

Rogue smiled. "That's great, Sarah. You're already gettin' th'hang of it." She whispered back. She knew, both from having gotten to know her, and from their first meeting in which she absorbed a piece of her psyche, that even something as simple as being able to do that meant a lot to her.

Sarah smiled back, and nodded. "It's a lot easier than I thought it would be," she said.

Rogue nodded, and leaned closer. "Well, if you keep that up, you might just get it under control b'fore Ah do."

A loud musical cue sounded from the television, pulling their attention back to it. On the screen, they showed that, with the exit polling, and the 30% of precincts already reporting, they were predicting a large win for Creed.

Remy shook his head in disgust, which seemed to be the mood in the whole room, although only a few of them knew Creed's full story. They sat in the living room for close to fifteen more minutes, watching the numbers come in, almost as if hoping they'd come back saying that they had been mistaken, and that Creed hadn't own, but as the votes come in his lead kept widening, now to nearly 62%.

The picture suddenly went back to the main studio to John King, who was reading a piece of paper that had been handed to him. He looked back up to the cameras. _" I apologize, but we're going to take a break from our election coverage to cover a breaking news story. Half an hour ago, a number of clinics offering the mutant 'Cure' throughout the country were simultaneously attacked. Police are not yet commenting on who attacked, but shortly after the attacks, we received a video from the mutant terrorist Magneto, claiming responsibility for the attacks."_

"_Here are some images from our sister stations in the areas of the attacks, and then we'll show the video we received."_

_Images flashed across the screen, showing clinic after clinic, some with raging fires being put out by firefighters, others showing a jumble of debris where the building had once stood._

_Then the image went to a video – the banner underneath read 'Magneto threat issued.', and it showed Magneto, dressed in dark clothing in what almost looked like a cave._

"_Today's attacks were only our first salvo. As long as the cure exists, our war will rage. Your cities will not be safe, your streets will not be safe, __**you**__ will not be safe. And to my fellow mutants, I make you this offer: join us, or stay out of our way. Enough mutant blood has been spilled already."_

_The image moved back to John kind. "That's about all the information we have at the moment. Several of our stations are reporting that the attacks took place during working hours, and that they do not believe any of the staff, or the mutants entering the building or in waiting rooms, survived these attacks. We could be looking at several hundred dead. We'll stay on this story, and bring you the latest as we get more information"_

Sarah looked up at Remy from her spot on his lap. "Why would he do that? He killed a bunch of mutants." She asked.

Remy sighed, ignoring the nervous chatter that had picked up throughout the room at the news. "I don' know. He thinks he's sendin' a message to de people dat want to give out de Cure, and de ones dat are takin' it. Some people jus' don' care what happens, 'long as dey think it'll help dem."

Sarah shivered, almost involuntarily, and gripped his arm, looking up at him with a scared expression. "Is he going to attack us too? I don' wanna have that happen here like in the tunnels," she whispered.

Remy traded a stricken glance with Rogue.

"No, honey, Ah don' think he'll attack us here," Rogue said softly, brushing Sarah's cheek with a gloved finger. "Ah think he'll go after the people makin' th'Cure, not us. He'd be hurtin' his cause if he attacked a school full of kids."

Remy nodded. "An' if he does, I'll be wit' you dis time, an' so will Rogue, an' we'll stop him, _hein_?"

Sarah took a deep breath, and finally nodded. "Okay." She said, and then leaned forward, resting her head on Remy's chest, her face buried in his shirt.

Remy swallowed, and wrapped his arms around her. Xavier had been right – perhaps right now Magneto was a bigger threat to mutants and the safety of the country than Creed was.

* * *

"Congratulations, Gray. This is just what we needed," Maldrone said to Creed. They were in a large hotel room, getting ready for a short victory speech Creed was going to deliver to a group of his supporters.

He'd just basically sealed his nomination with the win in Pennsylvania. Even if his opponent didn't concede defeat – something they didn't think would be the case – all that was left were a few states Creed already had leads in: either way, his nomination was basically a given.

Creed smiled, trying to straighten his tie, wishing his wife was there hat the moment to help him, but she was meeting them in twenty minutes down at the event. "It's a relief. Now I can focus on campaigning against the other party while they try to figure out which of the three of them to pick."

Creed frowned. "Unfortunately, we'll probably need to keep up about the same schedule of campaigning, won't we?"

Maldrone nodded. "Yeah. Why don't you and Mikaela take a few days off after tonight and take a little break before we have to really get back into it?"

Creed grinned. "I was hoping you'd say that." He said, finally giving up on the tie – Mikaela would probably straighten it anyway, the moment she saw him.

Creed glanced to the bodyguard standing near the door of the room, and gave him a questioning look. He held up the electronic surveillance sweeping device and gave him a thumbs-up, before letting himself out of the room.

"Alright, Ron. How are other things going? That artificial intelligence thing?"

"Quite well. We've got one of the lead developers right in our pocket. He'll do anything we ask him to."

Creed nodded. "And that rogue black project up in Montana?"

Ron smiled. "Even better. Apparently they have quite the grudge against mutants, and took to the Purifiers quite well – Eli is a pretty good negotiator. Bein' able to throw lots of money at them didn't hurt either." He said, and Creed nodded: Eli Bard had been one of his closest friends growing up, and he'd secretly begun the Purifiers, and started attacks against mutants across the country.

"I'll be visiting their base tomorrow while you're off with Mikaela. Eli tells me they've got some pretty interesting things they've been cooking up there - can't wait to see it myself."

Creed nodded. "Good. We should start heading down. Don't want to be late for the big speech. Oh, and Ron – tell Eli we need to respond in kind to Magneto. He wants a war, we'll give it to him. It'll only help us."

* * *

* * *

**A/N**: _**Well, that's the chapter. Little bit of a pause before the big showdown (which should be next chap if things go right). Lot's of nods to the comics in this one. :). A few hints at the future of the fic from Creed here – go ahead and make your guesses – I ain't talkin'**_

_**Hopefully next chap will be likely a bit more Romy, and probably the big Alcatraz showdown. No Jean this chap, but probably a bit next chapter.**_


	19. Chapter 19: Alcatraz

_**Disclaimer: X-men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway ;)**_

_A/N: Hey everyone, took a bit longer than expected to get this out, but it's nice and long, so that should make up for the wait. :) Thanks for all the feedback last chap, and all the get-well wishes. The wrist is doing a lot better, at least at typing, but it still sorta cramps up when I type for too long in one sitting. Anyway, here's the chapter – enjoy:_

**Chapter 19: Alcatraz**

* * *

Remy quietly closed the door to Sarah's room, taking one last glance at where she lay sleeping on her side. He'd stayed again with her until she fell asleep, and as he left the room he had the feeling she might be coming to his room later that night. He could tell that seeing the sites of the attacks on the Cure clinics had really shaken her and brought up memories of the tunnels, and he figured her dreams would again be returning.

Remy sighed, and began to walk toward his room. As he did, he glimpsed a light coming underneath Rogue's door. He smiled – after they'd spent some time together with Sarah in the living room, Dani had dragged Rogue off to talk about something about study sessions, and it looked like she was still up after it.

He knocked softly on the door, and Rogue answered half a minute later. She'd clearly recently taken a shower, her hair still dark and damp.

"Remy," she said with a smile, but it seemed a bit distracted.

"Hey, _Chére_. Jus' got Sarah t'get to sleep, an' I saw your light on an' thought I'd say goodnight." He said, leaning forward to give kiss her softly on the lips.

Rogue smiled, deepened the kiss before pulling away, letting Remy touch her arm to pull his energy back. "Thanks, Remy." Her forehead crinkled. "Speakin' of Sarah, how's she doin'? Ah think that her first session with th'Professor's got her pretty happy."

Remy smiled, somewhat sheepishly. "I know. An', I was wonderin' if you'd to help me give her horse-ridin' lessons tomorrow. I kind of promised her we would t'celebrate her gettin' dat control, but if you're busy wit' dat studyin' –"

Rogue placed a finger on his lips. "Ah'd love to, Remy. It's been a bit since Ah've been to the stables for more'n a few minutes with all that's been happenin'. Ah even know a horse that'd be perfect for her."

"Thanks, _Chére_. I know she'd like it even more if my 'Horse Lady' was helping teach her," Remy said with a teasing grin, kissing her on the forehead.

Rogue giggled. "Ah remember that. So, Ah'll be free after classes as long as it isn't after supper."

Remy shook his head. "I tol' her we'd do it after she gets out of class, so knowin' her she'll be runnin' outta de room de moment dey're done." Remy said with a slight grin.

Rogue nodded, and looked curiously to him. "So, she sleepin' okay?"

Remy shrugged helplessly. "Okay so far, but I think I'll be gettin' a wake up in a few hours. I think it wasn' so much de hearin' 'bout it, but de seein' de videos dat got to her."

When Rogue nodded, and seemed to look distantly over his shoulder for a moment, he frowned – he'd caught her looking like this, like something was bothering her, since they'd seen the story on the cure clinic attacks.

"An' I don' think she's de only one," he murmured softly, and placed his hands on her shoulders. "What's botherin' you, Rogue?"

She seemed to snap out of it, and look at him with a hint of surprise. "W-What?"

"I ain' blind, _Chére_. Somethin' is botherin' you. Talk t'me."

She seemed ready to protest for a moment, but looking up into his determined eyes, she visibly deflated and sighed softly. "It's this whole Magneto thing. Last time Ah saw him, at Alkali Lake, it wasn't so bad – he was at least tryin' t'help us even if it was for his own purposes. Now…. seein' what he's doin', it reminds me of how he was when Ah first met him…." She trailed off.

"You not have a good history wit' him?" Remy asked gently, and waited several minutes before she answered.

She gave a slight nod. "It was when Ah first came to th'Institute with Logan. Ah was – people found out 'bout what mah power was, an' Ah ended up runnin' away. Magneto kidnapped me from a train station. Y'know the whole thing that went on at th'Statue of Liberty a while back?" Rogue asked him.

Remy nodded. "Dat was Magneto?"

"Yeah. He made some sort of machine that was s'posed t'make normal humans into mutants. There were a bunch of world leaders on Ellis Island, an' he was goin' t'use it on them. That's why he needed me – he could power th'machine, but he didn' want it t'kill him. So he….. he forced me t'absorb him an' power it for him." She shivered.

"Logan an' th'others stopped it, but Ah was dyin' from the strain of doin' it, 'till Logan let me absorb his healin' powers." She reached up and fingered a lock of the white streak in her hair. "What Magneto did there is what gave me this."

She let out a shuddering sigh. "Jus' seein' him talkin' like he was, an' the bombings, reminded me of how he was, an' Ah've been havin' flashbacks of that day. Doesn' help havin' him here in mah head, but Carol's been shovin' him back an' shuttin' him up at least," she said with a shaky smile.

"_Dieu_," Remy breathed, running his hands up and down the sides of her arms, trying to hide his anger over finding out what Magneto had done to her. "I didn' know any of dat, _Chére_. Sorry for makin' you bring it up."

Rogue shook her head, and moved closer to him, shyly putting her arms around him. She looked up into his eyes. "No, it's okay, Remy. Ah was already thinkin' bout it anyway." She bit her lip, looking hesitantly up. "An' besides, Ah don' wan' things like this t'be secret b'tween us, or somethin' we never talk about."

He pulled her closer and rested his chin on the top of her head. "Me neither, Rogue." He whispered into her ear. "I'm gonna hafta buy Logan a beer sometime. Or maybe a few dozen, for savin' you." He said.

Rogue pulled back with a slight smile. "Only a few dozen?"

Remy grinned. "You're right. Maybe a lifetime supply. An' I'll have to ask him t'marry me for bein' such a wonderful guy."

Rogue swatted his chest, and laughed, her mood now broken. "He'll hafta settle for th'first – Ah don' share," she said with a slight blush.

Remy smiled, and ran a finger along her jawline. "Good," he said softly, "Neither do I, _Chére_."

He leaned forward and kissed her once more, and looked down at her seriously. "You have bad dreams, you can wake me up, _Chére_. I don' mind."

Rogue smiled and finally pulled back. "Ah'll remember that. Ah better get t'sleep, an' so should you, if you're plannin' on both me an' Sarah wakin' you up," she said teasingly.

Remy laughed softly, and grabbed her hand, bending gallantly over it to press a kiss on the back of her glove. "_Bonne nuit, mah Chére_," he said, before turning to leave her room.

"_Bonne nuit_, swamp rat," Rogue called after him, grinning happily, shaking her head in wonder at him. It never failed: no matter what sort of bad mood or feelings she might be having, he somehow could effortlessly pull her out of it.

* * *

"Hey Kitty," Piotr said softly as he walked up next to her, as they descended the stairs.

Kitty smiled and looked over at him. "Hi Pete," she said.

"Are you going to lunch?" Piotr asked.

Kitty nodded, and reached out to grip the banister as the rounded one flight of stairs to the final set that led to the main floor. "Yeah. Wanna join me?"

Piotr felt a slight blush come to his cheeks. "Sure," he said. Despite what had happened – finding out Bobby had kissed her, and that it seemed like they would try dating one another – nothing had changed in his own attraction to her, and the way she was keeping Bobby at a distance, at least for the moment, gave him the slightest glimmer of hope.

When they reached the kitchen, Piotr began to build a large sandwich using deli meats, vegetables, and basically anything else he could find. Kitty stood next to him, rinsing lettuce in the sink for the salad she nearly always ate for lunch.

"So, you going back home for break?" Kitty asked him over the noise of the faucet.

Piotr nodded. "Yeah. My father is picking me up at O'Hare, and we are driving back home."

Kitty's eyes lit up. "Oh, that's right, you're from the Chicago area too."

Piotr smiled, and nodded. "Yes, we live in Joliet."

Kitty nodded. "My parents live more to the north, in the actual city."

"Are you going home too?" Piotr asked.

"Yeah," she said. "My flight is on Friday, after classes."

Piotr's eyes widened. "You're not flying the 3:30 United, are you?"

Kitty laughed. "I actually am. You're on that one too?" Piotr nodded. "Wow, what are the odds of that?" She asked, shaking her head as she sliced up part of an onion onto her salad.

Piotr nodded, and glanced over at her. "If you'd like to share a taxi to the airport…."

Kitty smiled up at him, and reached over to pat him on the arm. "That would be great, if you really don't mind. The fare to the airport is such a killer."

"I don't mind," Piotr said quickly.

As he put the top on his sandwich, Kitty looked over to him again. "Hey, I don't know what all you have planned, but maybe we could meet up and do something in the city. I'm sure my parents would like to meet you and your family – other than knowing a few of our neighbors pretty well, they don't really get out much, and I think they'd love to get to know someone else in the area."

Piotr looked at her, pleased surprise on his face. "Well, I didn't really plan much. I have to go to an award's ceremony at my sister's school on the Thursday, but other than that I should be free. I'll ask my family, but it sounds fun."

Kitty nodded, smiling. This was, really, one of the rare few times she'd talked to Piotr in the last month, and she found herself wondering why she didn't talk with him more. She rinsed off the knife she'd used, and set it in the sink.

"You have a sister? I didn't know that. What's her name? How old is she?" Kitty asked.

Piotr nodded. "Her name is Illyana. She's 17, and she's graduating high school at the end of the month." He smiled fondly. "She's very smart, and I think she could get into any college she wants, but I have a feeling she will want to come here when the Professor opens the school up this next school year."

"Little sis wanting to be like her big brother?" She asked, grinning.

Piotr laughed, and nodded. "Something like that." He glanced down. "Knowing her, she'll want to join the X-men as well, which is the only reason I wouldn't want her to come." He shook his head. "But she's too headstrong, so I know there would be no stopping her."

Kitty nodded in understanding, and smiled over at him, picking up her bowl. "Well, I'd like to meet her," she said, as Piotr picked up his own plate and they began walking across the kitchen. A number of tables were occupied by a groups of younger students, so they walked further toward the back.

Piotr slowed, and nudged Kitty with his elbow. "Who's that?" He asked softly, nodding to a blond-haired young man wearing a large overcoat, eating in the corner by himself. He'd never seen him before, and he looked like he was Piotr's age or even a bit older.

Kitty bit her lip. "I'm not sure. He showed up here earlier today, and I saw him talking with the Professor. He looks lonely, though – wanna see if he wants some company?"

Piotr nodded, and they walked to the corner where he was sitting.

"Hi!" Kitty said brightly, causing him to look up from his plate. "Mind if we join you?"

The blond-haired man shook his head. "No, I don't mind." He said, looking between the two of them.

Piotr set his plate down, and reached out a hand. "I'm Piotr, and this is Kitty."

He smiled at the two of them, and shook Piotr's hand. "I'm –" he seemed to pause for a moment. "I'm Warren."

"Nice to meet you, Warren," Kitty said. "So what brings you to the Institute?"

"I had heard that this was a safe place for mutants. My….. father – he's not what you'd call a mutant-lover. He tried to get me to take the cure, but I chose not to, and left, and now I need a place to stay."

Kitty nodded. "Well you definitely came to the right place."

Warren smiled. "I think I did. Your headmaster here – Xavier – he seems like a great man. Very generous. He's told me I can stay as long as I want."

Piotr smiled as well. "He is. Kitty's right, you came to the right place."

"So you two… go to school here?" Warren asked.

Kitty nodded. "We do online courses with the community college in town. I just started this year – Pete's a year or two ahead of me in most classes."

Piotr blushed. "Well, I am two years older than most of you."

Kitty looked over to Warren. "What about you? Are you still in college?"

Warren shook his head. "No. I graduated three years ago." He glanced around the room, and lowered his voice. "What about this 'X-men' group? I'd heard they were somehow affiliated with the school."

Kitty giggled. "You don't hafta whisper – it isn't exactly a big secret around here. Pete and I are actually X-men. We do our best to help out mutants that can't fight for themselves, as well as those that need a place to stay."

Warren smiled sheepishly, and finished his sandwich. "I'd heard that," he said. "It's sort of what I'd like to do with my own powers – help people."

Piotr smiled. "You should talk to the Professor then. I'm sure he'd be glad to give you a chance with the team."

Warren nodded, and then stood, grabbing his empty plate. "Thanks for the company. I think I'll go ask him about it now, if he's not busy."

Kitty gave him a small wave. "See ya around, Warren." she called as he walked toward the sink.

* * *

Rogue grinned when she saw Sarah rushing down the stairs. Classes were done for the day, and it looked like she'd quickly changed into an outfit for horse-riding.

"Rogue!" She called breathlessly when she saw her, and ran up, coming to a dead stop in front of her.

"Hey Sarah, what's up?"

"I'm lookin' for Remy. Have you seen him?"

"Yes, Ah have," Rogue said, trying to keep a straight face.

Sarah looked at her expectantly, but Rogue didn't say anything else. "Well? Aren't you going to tell me where he is?"

Rogue's grin broke out. "That isn't what yah asked me," she said.

"Roooogue….." Sarah groaned in exasperation.

Rogue laughed, and reached out to grab Sarah's hand. "C'mon, Ah'll take yah to him." She said, leading her down the hall and toward the exit to the back near the kitchen.

She glanced down at Sarah. "This's your first time ridin' a horse, huh?" Rogue asked.

Sarah looked up at her in surprise. "Yeah. Did Remy tell ya?"

Rogue nodded. "Ah'm 'bout the only person that spends a lot of time with our horses, so Ah'm gonna be helpin' Remy teach yah."

Sarah smiled brightly at her as they walked across the lawn. "That's great!" She glanced around as they walked near the basketball hoops. "So where's Remy?"

Rogue smiled. "He's gettin' your horse ready. All saddled up an' all that." Rogue said, nodding at the distant stables.

Sarah nodded happily, and let Rogue lead her on. She glanced up innocently. "Didya like your date with Remy?" She asked her.

Rogue nearly missed a step, stumbling over her feet for a moment before pulling Sarah to a stop. "How'd yah –" She stopped, realizing how she knew. "Did Remy tell yah?"

Sarah nodded. "Yeah. So how was it?"

Rogue felt a hint of a blush come to her cheeks. "It was great." She looked at Sarah hesitantly. "Are yah…. are yah okay with Remy an' me datin'?"

Sarah nodded brightly. "Of course, silly. I thought y'were datin' back when you picked me up." Sarah said, smiling.

Rogue let out an inaudible sigh. "Good. Ah jus' didn' know what you thought 'bout it."

"I like it." Sarah shrugged. "I like you, Rogue. You're one of my only friends," she said, blushing slightly. "You make Remy really happy, an' I want him to be happy. He likes you a bunch, you know."

Rogue nodded, smiling at Sarah. "Ah know. Ah like him 'a bunch', too." She tugged Sarah's hand. "C'mon, sweetie. Remy's probably wonderin' why you're not runnin' to th'stable yet."

They reached the stables a minute later, and Rogue pushed open the doors. They walked through, toward the back set of doors which were unlatched and open. Sarah gazed at stall after stall, each empty.

"Where are all the horses?" She asked, confused.

Rogue smiled. "They've got a big fenced in area out back by the lake where we let them run an' graze when it's nice outside like today." She nodded toward the open doors in the back. "Remy should be out back here."

Sarah started to move forward, catching a glimpse of Remy's coat past one of the doors, and Rogue squeezed her hand. "Let's go out there slowly, sweetie. Y'can't run when you're near a horse – y'might frighten them."

Sarah nodded, and slowed to match Rogue's pace.

Outside, Remy was talking softly to a small pure-black horse – just barely over the height at which it could be considered a pony. Remy had already saddled him, and had him tethered to a guide-line.

Remy glanced over to them, and smiled, gesturing for them to come closer. Sarah approached next to Rogue, now with a bit of trepidation – she'd seen pictures of horses plenty of times, but never seen one up close. It was so _big_, she thought to herself.

"Sarah, this here's Ol' Black Jack." Rogue said. "He's our oldest horse 'round here, an' he's a total sweetheart with younger riders like you."

Sarah moved up next to Remy, and smiled when Black Jack looked curiously at her. "Can I pet him?" She asked softly.

Remy nodded. "Let me show y'how, _petite_. It's a bit diff'rent than pettin' a dog or a cat."

Remy moved to stand directly behind her, and grasped the wrist of her right hand. "Alrigh', first, you hold out your hand, an' let him sniff you – get t'know you, so you ain' some stranger touching him." Remy said, turning her wrist so it was palm-up, and moving it closer to the horse.

Black Jack lowered his nose, and snuffled at her palm for several moments, and she giggled softly at the feeling as he snorted out a breath into her hand.

"Alrigh, now, you jus' keep talking softly to him, and use dis same hand, and slowly move it up on his neck like dis." Remy said, moving her hand along. "Den when you get to about here, by de base, near de back, you can pat him. Be gentle though."

He let her wrist go as she patted the horse near the withers. The muscles a little further up on his neck twitched slightly, and Remy pointed at it. "Dat usually means he's got an itch, an' since he don' have hands like us, it's hard for him to scratch 'round dere. Best way to get to be good pals wit' him is to take care of his itches for him, so go 'head."

Sarah nodded, fascinated by the silky-black hair, and moved her fingers forward to scratch at his neck. She grinned up at Remy and Rogue when the horse snorted softly, and his neck muscles seemed to relax. "He's such a nice horse," she said.

Rogue nodded. "I told yah. Ready to try your first ride, now that he's used to yah?"

Sarah nodded, and Remy reached over to a small bench that had been set up outside the stables, and grabbed a small helmet. "Alrigh', _petite_, let's get dis on you. Don' wan' you hurtin' y'self if you fall. An' _everyone_ falls 'least once when they're learnin' to ride."

Sarah stood still as Remy secured the helmet firmly on her head, and snapped the strap under her chin.

Rogue placed a palm on Black Jack's neck to make sure he was calmed, and Remy lifted Sarah in his arms, and eased her onto the saddle, making sure she didn't accidentally kick the horse as she got on.

Once she was on, and had placed her feet in the stirrups, Rogue moved to her side, and got her adjusted into the correct posture for riding which, as always for a first-time rider, took a bit of doing.

"Alrigh', _petite_. I figured we can get a bit more into th'controllin' later on, an' for now we'll jus' take him on a lead-rope so you can get used t'bein' on him."

Sarah nodded, and let her hands settle near the saddle as Rogue had showed her, in the position she'd be gripping the reins. She softly patted Blackjack once, and cooed something quietly to him, and then looked up at Remy. "Okay, I'm ready."

Remy untied the line, and they slowly began to walk, starting first in a small circle near the stable, and then slowly moving out into the more open riding area. Remy kept him at a four-beat gait – a walk – and they moved around the lawn.

Eventually he relinquished the lead-rope to Rogue, and stood back, leaning back against a fence post watching the three of them. He sighed happily at the broad grin plastered to Sarah's face as Rogue led Black Jack to pick up speed slightly into a very slow trot/jog.

* * *

Time flew by, and Remy soon realized they'd been out there for nearly two hours, as Rogue led them back toward the stables.

She turned Black Jack around to face the woods once again, and tied the lead-rope to the post. Remy reached up, and helped Sarah climb off. She threw her arms around his neck, and kissed him on the cheek.

"That was so much fun, Remy!" She said, squeezing him.

Remy laughed. "It sure looks like it was, _petite_," he said, looking at the excited pink glow in her cheeks.

He set her down, and helped her remove her helmet, tossing it to the side, as Rogue loosened the girth on Black Jack, and removed his saddle. Remy grabbed a bucket and wetted a sponge, handing another to Sarah. "Now let's show y'how to rub down a horse," he said, nodding to the sweaty saddle-marks on the horse's back.

* * *

Rogue tried to stifle a yawn as Remy kissed her on the cheek. She reached back to open the door to her room, and reached up with her other hand to rub her bleary eyes.

"G'night," she muttered sleepily.

Remy chuckled. "Good night, _Chére_. Maybe tonight you'll jus' be havin' bad dreams 'bout physics problems." He said – she'd just left an exhausting study session with the others in her class, and it was well after midnight.

She groaned. "If Ah see another free-body-diagram, Ah'll poke mah eyes out."

Remy looked at her sympathetically, and touched her cheek. "Well, if y'need help wit' your physics stuff, let me know, an' I'll try to dig out what I learned when I took it," he said, giving her a small grin.

She smiled back. "Ah might hafta take y'up on that. Now Ah gotta get in bed b'fore Ah fall asleep on mah feet."

Remy closed the door behind her, and turned down the hall. Only to see Bobby standing further down the hall, watching him, his hands in his pockets, standing near Remy's door.

Remy sighed mentally and walked over toward his door, and Bobby.

Bobby nodded slightly to him, an unreadable expression on his face. He sighed heavily and looked at Remy as he neared. "Gambit." He said softly.

"Yeah?" Remy said, raising an eyebrow. He crossed his arms across his chest.

"I've been doing a lot of thinking the last few days. Everyone's been giving me the cold shoulder and I guess everything's finally starting to sink in, and I wanted to say I was…. that I'm sorry for being an ass that day when Rogue was missing. For blaming what happened on you." He ran a hand across his face. "I was just trying to handle what had happened, and didn't do it very well."

Remy nodded, tight-lipped, and Bobby continued. "I'm sure you know I've never trusted you," he said, pausing at Remy's amused snort. "I probably still wouldn't if you hadn't told us what happened with the tunnels, but maybe I was wrong and I'll try giving you a chance." Bobby shrugged. "So, I guess that's what I wanted to say. I'm sorry."

Remy nodded, and scrutinized Bobby for several moments. "I ain' th'person you should be apologizin' to. It's Rogue dat deserves this. She tries to not let it bother her, but I c'n tell dat what you did is gonna stay wit' her, 'least 'till she gets control of her powers, always wonderin' deep down if de next person is gonna do what you did b'cause they can't deal wit' her powers."

Bobby sighed, and frowned. "I know. When she's ready to talk to me, I'll try to apologize to her. Right now, I'm under threat of impalement by Logan to leave her alone until she wants to talk." He said, and then looked back up with an intense expression.

"You and Rogue. You're together aren't you?" He asked, a resigned tone in his voice.

Remy nodded tightly. "Yeah, we are now. Thanks to you, partly."

Bobby nodded glumly, and shoved his hands back into his pockets. "I thought so. I've never seen her like that before, even when things were good between us when we started dating." He shook his head, and started to turn away. "If you could… you know – hint that I want to talk, and try to… settle things?"

Remy nodded slightly. "If it comes up. She'll prob'ly be ready to deal wit' it after break anyway."

Bobby nodded once again, and turned, walking along the hall toward his own room.

Remy shook his head, and opened his door, wondering if hell was currently freezing over. If there was one thing that he'd thought would never happen, it'd been Bobby actually being… _decent_. _Civil_. Perhaps there actually could be a hint of hope for him, Remy thought, tossing his clothes into a pile next to the bed before clambering in under his sheets.

* * *

Logan slowly opened Jean's door the next afternoon when she didn't answer his knock. She hadn't come down the entire day, and he was carrying a plate with a sandwich for her to eat. His gaze ran over her bed, which was neatly made, and around the room until he stopped at her standing on her balcony.

He set down the sandwich and moved toward her. She was gripping the railing tightly, her entire body trembling, her eyes closed.

"Jean?" Logan asked, concerned.

Her eyes snapped open, and she let out a gasp of breath, throwing her arms tightly around him, still shaking.

"Logan," she gasped, "Something's happening. Something big."

He froze, his hands on her back. "Is it – is she trying to take over again? Should I get-"

She shook her head. "No, I have her under control, but she can feel something. It's distant, but it's big. Like….. like war. Death." She shuddered. "She thirsts for it, wants to break free and feed on all the emotions there."

Jean closed her eyes, and gasped suddenly. "We need to tell the Professor. I think she's sensing Magneto. Sensing another attack," Jean said.

Logan touched her cheek, and she leaned into his hand. "Okay, Jean. Let's talk to him." He let go of her, placing an arm around her shoulders as they walked toward the door to her room. "Are you sure you're alright?"

Jean sighed. "As alright as I can be."

* * *

The elevator opened into the hall on the main floor, and Xavier exited, a grim look on his face. The others had gathered around Jean and Logan, and they all looked expectantly Xavier.

"You were right, Jean. My sweep with Cerebro showed an unusually large grouping of mutants – nearly two hundred. I did a surface scan, and it seems they are following Magneto. They're somewhere in San Francisco."

"Oh no," Hank breathed, as he realized the target for their attack. "Charles – San Francisco – they're going to Alcatraz Island. That's where Worthington Labs' Cure facility is located. They're going to try to destroy it at its source."

Charles sighed. "They _were_ moving in that direction."

"Charles, the source of the cure - it's a boy. A young mutant. We met several days ago when I went to examine the facility." Hank said grimly.

Charles closed his eyes and rubbed at his forehead.

"We hafta stop them," Rogue said suddenly. "We know Magneto isn't 'gainst sacrificing a single mutant if it gets him what he wants. He'll kill the boy."

Logan looked at her sadly, realizing she was referring to her own near-death at the hands of Magneto. He looked over to Xavier, who'd opened his eyes once again, and nodded. "I'll prep the jet."

He squeezed Jean's shoulder. "Jean…"

She looked up and shook her head. "I'm staying here. I can feel what would happen if I went… It would be bad for everyone."

Xavier looked at the others. "Suit up. I fear we may need to get there as quickly as possible."

Warren, who'd come come closer as Xavier came out of the elevator, spoke up. "Could I come? My – father will probably be there."

Charles looked at him knowingly. "Come along, Warren. Just remember – they are trained for this – you aren't."

Charles pressed the button to call the elevator, and he, Logan, Hank, and Warren stepped in. "We'll meet you all downstairs," Charles said.

Remy started moving down the hall, and the others quickly followed. He stopped suddenly, and pulled the door to the kitchen open, resulting in a tumble of bodies caught off-balance.

He shook his head, chuckling, seeing Dani, Jubilee, and Sam lying in a tangle of limbs – it was quite obvious they'd been eavesdropping on them.

"We're comin' with you," Sam said, a determined look on his face as he struggled to his feet.

Ororo shook her head. "No, you aren't. You aren't ready for something like this."

"C'mon, Storm, we want to help." Jubilee pleaded.

Remy cleared his throat, drawing their gazes. "You will be. Someone needs to stay here and watch the younger kids. You three are it. If dis goes bad… we need someone here to protect de school. You'll be helpin' more den you know."

Ororo shot him a grateful smile. "Gambit is right. You three, and Jean, are in charge. If anything happens, leave through the tunnels like last time, and keep everyone safe."

Dani nodded, and shot the other two a look. "We won't let you down."

Sam groaned, but he and Jubilee nodded as well.

Remy, Ororo, and Rogue had been the only ones that stopped – the others continuing down the hall – and they hurried down after them. As they reached the basement stairs, Sarah stepped down the main stairs, and smiled, seeing the three of them. Her smile faded, and she stopped dead in her tracks, seeing the looks on their faces.

Remy moved over to her, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Sarah-" he began.

"You're goin' somewhere aren't you? Is it Magneto?" She asked, worriedly.

"Yeah, _petite_. Over in San Francisco, he's attackin' a bunch of people, an' we hafta stop them." He pointed over to where Dani, Jubilee, and Sam still stood in the hall. "Dose three are in charge while we're gone. You stay close to Sally an' dem, an' you'll be fine, _hein_?"

Sarah nodded, her lower lip trembling slightly. "Be careful," she said, looking at Rogue and Ororo as well as Remy.

She threw her arms around Remy's neck, and hugged him tightly.

He hugged her back. "It'll be alrigh', Sarah. I love you." He whispered in her ear.

Tears flooded her eyes at hearing it directly from him for the first time, not from others telling her he loved her, and she sniffled, hugging him tighter. "I love you too, Remy. Please don't get hurt." She whispered back.

He reluctantly pulled back, kissing her on the cheek. "I'll try not to, _petite_. We gotta go now." He said sadly.

She nodded, and let go of him, and he backed slowly away, following Rogue and Ororo down the stairs.

* * *

Downstairs, the others were already emerging from the locker rooms, dressed in their leather body-suits, and Rogue and Ororo hurriedly grabbed theirs and entered the locker room.

Remy shrugged off his trenchcoat where he stood, and pulled open a drawer he'd put his personal body armor in. He stripped off his shirt, and began putting the armor on, piece by piece, ensuring it was firmly in place. He pulled his shirt, then his trenchcoat back on, and swiftly ran his hands over each pocket, ensuring everything was still in place.

By that time, Rogue and Ororo emerged, dressed in their own uniforms, and Remy found himself having tear his gaze away from Rogue's as they left the room, meeting up with the others at the X-jet.

Ororo hurried up the ramp, and took her seat at the front of the plane, finishing the warm-up sequence Logan had begun for her. Xavier helped her – the co-pilot's chair had been folded down into a compartment in the floor, and his wheelchair had been locked to the floor in its place.

Finally, she raised the ramp as everyone strapped in, and turned to look to Charles.

He gave her a strained smile, and turned around to face everyone. "Today we will be facing a large number of opponents. Most of them will be untrained, and that is where you will have your greatest advantage. I know you are ready for this – you've trained for this, and surpassed my own expectations. There will be several powerful mutants there, however: Magneto being only one of them. John, whom many of you personally know, is there with him."

Xavier closed his eyes for a moment, seemingly struggling with something. He opened his eyes again and gazed at all of them, sighing heavily. "Perhaps your biggest threat is a man who it appears Magneto freed from prison. His name is Cain Marko, and he is physically unstoppable if he gains any sort of momentum. He's a dangerous man – one I'd thought was safely contained in prison years ago, before I'd even formed the X-men."

"I won't lie – this will test you to your limits, but I believe you all can succeed. We can stop Magneto and safeguard the lives of those in the facility."

Xavier touched each of their mind briefly, sensing their fears and doubts, but also their pride at his confidence in them. Charles turned back, and nodded to Ororo who opened the hangar doors above them, and started up the engines of the Jet.

* * *

The flight across the country was relatively fast – Ororo pushed the engines for all they were worth, and they sped along high above the countryside below.

They slowed as they neared the city of San Francisco, and Ororo pulled them into a curve that took them out over the Bay. The sight that greeted them was shocking, to say the least.

It looked as if an entire section of the Golden Gate Bridge had been torn out, and used by Magneto to ferry his 'army' across the bay, and it was now resting on the edge of Alcatraz. They could see flashes of light in the dying evening sunlight, and it appeared the fighting between the troops stationed there, and Magneto's recruits, was well underway.

"Oh, my Stars and Garters," Hank muttered, from behind Remy.

"Switching us over to stealth mode," Ororo said, punching a control on the console. The light around the outside of the Jet started to shimmer as they circled in closer, eventually landing on the roof of the large building.

Ororo stood, and Xavier turned to face them once again. "I'll remain here with the Jet. I'll try to keep them disorganized and confused as long as I can. Good luck"

The ramp lowered, and the entire group quickly moved out. Ororo's eyes glowed as she called up the wind to whirl around her, lifting her in the air. Enormous flashes of lightning crashed down from the sky, slamming to the earth in front of the large mutant army, between them and the soldiers trying to defend the base.

Rogue offered Remy a hand, and pulled him into the air, wobbling momentarily as she got used to the extra weight, and flew him down to the ground below in the area Ororo had cleared, as the others descended in their own ways.

Kitty popped up out of the ground next to her, holding onto Bobby, and Logan landed nimbly on the other side.

"Spread out," Logan shouted. "Form a line. Don't let them get past."

"Who're you?" one of the soldiers closest to them, and still blinking from the lightning strike, demanded.

"We're de X-men. We're probably de only hope you've got to save your asses, an' stop dese guys," Remy said.

Hank, nearby, glanced over to Logan with a small smile. "The delivery needs some work, but his heart's in the right place. Well said, _mon frère_, well said."

"Get ready," Logan warned, as the others recovered and regrouped, beginning another charge at the soldiers, and now the team.

Remy caught sight of several figures up on the edge of the bridge Magneto had dropped in, and he noted their location as he pulled out his bo-staff.

And then they were on top of them, and he found himself striking blow after blow to a seemingly endless charge of mutants. Remy whirled his staff in one hand as Rogue literally threw off two attackers, sending them hurtling through the crowd, knocking over nearly a dozen others.

His hand dipped into his pocket, and came out with a deck of cards, already glowing with his kinetic charge. He swept his hand out, snapping his wrist forward, sending each card out at the feet of the charging mutants. The cards erupted in muffled explosions, tossing numerous opponents off their feet.

Remy saw a moving shape, and reflexively snapped his head to the side, and heard a whistling sound as an object flew past his ear. His gaze tracked its trajectory, and landed on a tall, African American man several dozen feet away. Remy froze when he saw the bone growths emerge from his wrists – the sight so similar to Sarah's powers that he was shocked into inaction.

Two more projectiles were already whistling toward him, and he snapped out of it and began to move, only to find Rogue suddenly in front of him. She grunted slightly, and they were suddenly showered by little shards of bone as the projectiles shattered against her chest.

"Thanks," Remy said over the noise of the battle. "I'll take him."

Rogue nodded. "Mah pleasure, swamp rat." She said, moving to the side.

Remy vaulted himself over the growing pile of unconscious bodies using his bo-staff, and dashed toward the mutant, who was preparing two more spikes. To his left, Remy felt the earth shudder as someone charged through the crowds, mowing down anyone that got in his way. He blew past the line of soldiers and punched through the wall, running into the building at top speed.

"We have to protect the kid," Logan shouted.

"I'm on it," Kitty called, running toward the building.

Rogue grabbed her arm, and ran along next to her. "Ah'm comin' too," she said.

Kitty nodded, and her eyes focused as she phased them through the first wall.

Remy leapt to the side over one of the spikes, and his adamantium staff slapped the other out of its path, and the next moment he was face to face with the mutant.

The man extended a long spike, and held it out like his own staff, whirling one end at Remy. Remy easily blocked it with his own, and swept a leg out in a low kick, but the man was able to jump over it.

As the man began to strike more rapidly, Remy quickly recognized he had received a bit of training in a European form of quarterstaff fighting. '_Too bad you didn't keep studying_,' Remy thought with a smirk as he pressed his own attack, quickly showing the man's inexperience, and disarming him with a stinging strike to the hand.

Remy spun, using the momentum to swing his staff, and it connected with the man's head, knocking him out almost instantly. His gaze ran over to where Logan was fighting a man that seemed to be able to instantly grow his limbs back as Logan sliced them off, and he grinned when Logan connected a kick to his groin, sending the man to the ground instantly.

Remy knocked out two more inexperienced fighters rather absently – his attention instead drawn to Hank, who was moving around surprisingly fast and nimbly for someone his size as he pounced on one person after another, beating them down with brute force.

Remy shook his head in amazement, and his gaze moved once more to the figures standing on the bridge, now only two people.

* * *

Warren Worthington the Third swept above the battleground, soaring over it all with slow, hard strokes from his feathered wings. He would try his best to keep Xavier's advice in mind, knowing that he was no fighter, not like any of the people below him.

His keen eyes focused on a struggle on a balcony near the rooftop. He moved toward it, seeing his father being shoved against the railing by two female mutants, and a young male mutant, who seemed to be taunting him.

He couldn't blame them for their feelings toward his father – he'd felt them himself since his father had discovered he was a mutants, and set about developing the Cure. But the man was still his father, and even though he'd acted ashamed of Warren, he'd wanted what he thought was best for him – but not necessarily the thing that Warren thought was best for himself.

The mutants suddenly shoved his father over the balcony, and Warren swept his wings back into a dive, and caught the falling man, before spreading his wings, and pulling out of the dive.

His father looked at him, amazement clear on his face, as well as gratitude. "Warren?" He whispered.

Warren silently nodded, focusing on climbing to a higher altitude, so he could circle around, and land them on the roof, next to the jet they'd arrived in.

* * *

After phasing through three walls, they caught up with the man that had charged past – the one, Rogue guessed, Xavier seemed to know in some way.

Kitty let go of her and leapt forward, grabbing onto the man, and phasing him down through the floor until he was halfway in, and then letting go, leaving him stuck in the solid ground.

Kitty phased up, and grabbed Rogue's hand, and they began running once again.

"Do you know who I am?" The man shouted after them, and as they phased through the next wall, they could barely make out his words. "I'm the Juggernaut, bitch!"

The next moment they heard a rumbling crack, an several moments later a loud crash as the wall behind them broke open, Marko seemingly not affected at all by being phased into the ground.

They ran faster, keeping at least one wall ahead of them, and then when they were two walls ahead, Rogue pulled Kitty into the air, up to the tall ceiling, and Marko burst from the wall below them, running on without realizing they'd stopped.

Rogue pointed wordlessly to a sign that read 'Main Lab', and Kitty nodded, leading them in the direction it pointed.

Kitty phased them through several more rooms, and finally they reached a rather bare, sterile-looking room with white walls, where a young boy no older then twelve or thirteen, his head shaved completely, sat huddled in a corner.

He looked up, startled at their entrance, slightly afraid as they ran over to him.

"No, don't worry, we're here to help. We gotta get you out of here" Kitty said, bending down in front of him, and grabbing his hand.

Rogue grabbed the other, and Kitty pressed her hand against the wall, staring in shock when it refused to phase through. "What's going on?" She asked, confused.

"Your powers won't work with me," he said.

Rogue and Kitty exchanged glances, both panting from their run.

"How far does it extend?" Rogue asked him, hearing Marko breaking through walls again, getting nearer.

"Only a few feet."

She nodded. "Alright, stay here, and don't move. We'll protect you."

Rogue peeled off a glove, and moved to the other side of the room, Kitty following her. "You phase him, I drain him." She said, and Kitty gave her a nod as the smashing grew closer.

Marko burst through their wall a moment later, and the debris bounced off Rogue, and through Kitty. He started to move toward the boy, but Kitty had already grabbed him, phasing him down through the floor up to his chest.

"Didn't you just try this?" He asked mockingly as he began to rock back and forth, the floor around him beginning to crack.

"Not this," Kitty said, as Rogue reached down behind him and placed a hand on his bare arm.

He kept rocking, but suddenly gasped as he felt his energy begin to drain out of his body, and into Rogue.

Rogue finally let go, and his head drooped weakly to the side. Rogue staggered slightly, bringing her hand up to her head, as Carol began to help her fight the psyche of Marko back into the pile of other psyche's in her mind.

"You okay?" Kitty asked.

Rogue shook her head to clear it. "Yeah. This guy's full of energy. It's like a 24/7 sugah rush." Rogue said, testing her limbs for a moment.

She looked over to Kitty and the boy. "Let's go. We can get out right through the holes he made."

* * *

Outside, it was raining flaming cars.

Remy and the others had taken cover as the fiery automobiles crashed down around their heads. One of the figures had moved closer, and Remy could see flames emerging from his hands, and shooting up to catch on the cars Magneto was hurling their direction.

Remy saw Logan gazing at something on the ground, and he looked, to see a cartridge of what looked like tranquilizer darts, clearly made to fit in a gun, and Remy realized it must have been from one of the Cure weapons Hank had told them about.

They all exchanged a glance, collectively deciding it was what needed to be done. Remy pulled out of his crouch. "I'll take care of de flamer." He said, pulling out one of his decks of cards.

He ran forward, charging it, and hurled it into the air. It exploded against an incoming car, robbing it of its momentum, and causing it to fall right where it was. Remy stalked forward, as the young man's attention was drawn to him.

The man, John, as Remy had discovered from Rogue on the flight in, glanced back at Magneto, and received a nod, and made his way toward Remy.

As he neared, he looked over Remy appraisingly. "Never seen you before. Hire you to replace me?" He asked mockingly.

"Sorry, Flamer. I ain' nobody's replacement," Remy said, snapping his wrist forward, a dozen glowing cards flying from his hand.

Remy heard the sound of flint striking, and his thief's eyes were drawn to John's wrist where he had some sort of contraption set up, which sparked into flame. John moved his hands forward, and the flame shot out, spiraling through the incoming cards, causing them to explode prematurely as the physical material was incinerated.

Remy hid a smirk. '_I know your secret, Flame-head. You gotta have existing fire to be able to control it. Can't make your own,_' Remy thought to himself.

He hurled two more handfuls of cards, before John seemed to get tired of the game, and formed the flames into a wolf-like shape and sent it toward Remy, snapping its jaws as it neared him.

Remy dove to the side, the figure barely missing him – its jaws close enough to singe the hairs on the back of his right arm, and he decided that he, too, was done with this.

Remy turned his dive into a roll, keeping well beneath the flames, and then pushed up off of one hand, now directly in front of John. He snapped his hand forward before John could react, and gripped the ignition mechanism, giving it a hard yank. It pulled from underneath his sleeve, and snapped off. Remy tossed it to the side as John now tried desperately to bring the still-burning flames back in their direction, to envelop Remy.

Remy gave him a smirk, grabbed either side of his face, and pulled his face down into his knee, which he'd begun moving upward. The flames behind them, only feet away, sputtered and died as John was knocked out.

* * *

Back near where they'd taken cover, Ororo had created a thick bank of fog around Magneto, and Bobby knelt with his hand against the ground, sending out a sheet of ice to blanket it, surrounding Erik.

"Let's make this one a grand slam," Logan said, extending his claws. Piotr shifted into his metal form, and grabbed Logan by the back of his outfit, and spun around twice before shot-putting him through the air toward Magneto.

Erik quickly saw him, and stretched out a hand, manipulating the metal coating every bone in Logan's body, to yank him down hard to the ground, letting his momentum and the frictionless ice cause him to slide up to Magneto's feet.

He twisted his hand, spreading Logan's arms out, and flipped him face up. "You never learn," he said, a distasteful look on his face.

Logan, catching his breath from the impact, looked up at him. "Actually, I do."

Behind Erik, Hank leapt down, the cure darts firmly clutched in his hands.

Erik smirked, and several bands of metal shot out, wrapping around Hank's torso, and lifting him in the air to hover above Logan. "No, you don't." Erik said mockingly.

His gaze was caught by the darts in Hank's hand, and his eyes widened in anger. "Well, well, trying to 'cure' me. How 'voluntary'." He spat, casually lifting his hand to snag an incoming Bobby with another band of metal.

His gaze snapped up to where Rogue emerged from the building with Kitty and a young boy, and spotted them. She ran forward several steps, and then leapt into the air, soaring toward Erik at high speed.

"You're just full of surprises, aren't you my dear?" he muttered.

As Rogue neared, enormous sheets of metal suddenly leapt into the air in her path, mashing together to form a single thick sheet. Rogue, both from her own powers, as well as the fading boost she'd received from Marko, punched through the four-inch thick wall of metal like it was tissue paper, and shoved a shocked Magneto backwards.

And explosion behind him then buffeted him forward, and he lost his concentration, letting the still-bound Hank fall to the ground. Remy appeared out of the smoke of his explosion, and swung a fist at Magneto, but he'd already recovered, manipulating the metal in Remy's armor to shove him back.

"Rogue!" Hank shouted, tossing the cartridge into the air as best he could from his bound position on the ground.

Rogue snagged them out of the air, and ran forward, punching effortlessly through several defensive walls Magneto desperately threw up in front of her. She reached him, and grabbed his arm, firmly shoving the tips of the darts into his skin.

Erik staggered back as she released him, staring disbelievingly at his chest where the darts protruded. He fell back, his hands trembling as he pulled them from his chest. "I'm…. I'm…."

"'Cured'?" Rogue supplied. "Yeah, deal with it."

"How did- how did you do that?" He said, his entire body shaking as the cure began to remove his mutant abilities.

Rogue ignored him, and hurried over to Remy's side, helping him up. On the other side of Erik, she saw Logan slicing through the metal bindings on Hank and Bobby, and Ororo lowered herself on the wind next to them

"You okay?" Rogue asked Remy as she pulled him to his feet.

"Yeah," he said. "Just a bruised ass. Wanna kiss it an' make it better?" He asked, grinning.

"Maybe later," she murmered absently, her attention on Kitty and Piotr hurrying over with the young mutant that the entire fight had been about. Her gaze snapped suddenly back to Remy as she realized what she'd said, her entire face turning scarlet. "Remy!" She said, sounding scandalized.

He chuckled. "I might hafta take you up on dat," he teased, leaning on her a moment more for support before straightening up painfully.

He nodded to the mutants that still remained, closer to the facility. "Looks like without their leader, dey're givin' up." He said, moving with Rogue next to the others, walking past the fallen Erik.

She followed his gaze, and saw it was true – the remaining mutants – the ones not moaning in pain on the ground and trying to get back to their feet, were standing in place, looking at the small team of X-men with trepidation.

"It actually went alright," Rogue commented. "This was our first real mission for some of us, an Ah don' think it could have gone any better," she said.

Remy nodded, looking around the others in relief, seeing only minor injuries – scrapes and bruises – marring their appearance. He'd been worried it might end up more dire than that, and was pleasantly surprised.

A sudden sound of boots on the ground, and the clicking off of safeties of hundreds of weapons filled the air all around them and the still-conscious members of Magneto's 'army'. "Freeze!" a voice shouted behind them.

Remy sighed and raised his hands over his head, turning slowly as everyone else quickly followed suit. Behind them, several hundred American soldiers surrounded them on all sides except for the area facing the labs. They held guns ranging from automatic weapons, to high-tech looking weapons Remy assumed were the 'Cure' Guns Hank had mentioned.

"You just had to go an' jinx it, didn' you _Chére_?" He muttered softly, placing his hands on the back of his head at the next command barked out by the voice that had told them to freeze.

* * *

* * *

_**A/N**_:_ Well, that's it for this chapter. Nice bit of Romy, and Remy/Sarah/Rogue, a little nod to Kitty/Piotr (possibly more coming in the future;)), and finally the big showdown at Alcatraz (With Magneto being a bit more competent than in the movie, although no match for Rogue's unexpected powers), which was the most challenging part of the chapter for me to write._

_Next chapter will wrap up the events of the movie, and after that we're in uncharted territory as far as what you guys will know. :) Plenty of stuff still to come, more Creed, and perhaps a few more hints to his plans and how they'll affect everyone possibly coming next chapter. Let me know what you thought of the chapter!_


	20. Chapter 20: Aftermath

_**Disclaimer: X-Men is owned by **__**Marvel Comics**__** and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-Men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway ;)**_

_A/N: Hey everyone. Thanks for all of the great feedback last chapter. This chapter is a bit shorter, and is basically the "wrapping up" chapter, dealing with the aftermath of the Battle, and everything before their week break. Enjoy!_

**Chapter 20: Aftermath**

* * *

Remy and the others sat in a cleared area off to the side from Magneto's army, all under the watchful eye of several hundred soldiers. Almost immediately after they'd been ordered to stand down, the soldiers had rushed in with zip-tie PlastiCuffs and forced them to the ground, binding their hands behind their backs.

The commanding officer of those who had been there during the battle had vouched for the X-Men, and as a result they were held to the side separate from the rest, albeit still restrained. Remy chuckled to himself at how easily any of their little group could break free of their bonds, but they seemed to give the soldiers a bit of piece of mind so he didn't really complain. Besides, even if one were to break loose, there were hundreds of weapons trained on the crowd of mutants.

Xavier had been in mental contact with them, keeping them calm and telling them to co-operate with the troops. Warren and himself were at the X-jet, still cloaked on the roof of the facility.

From Xavier's own scans, and from what Remy could piece together, they were being held by the 79th Infantry Combat Team, a part of the Army National Guard based in California, and they were all waiting for further orders from D.C. before anyone was released or moved.

They'd been in 'custody' for nearly three hours now, and Remy could feel a bit of strain in his shoulders from a rather enthusiastic Private over-tightening his cuffs, and Remy tried to subtly move his arms to ease the strain.

Remy shot a glare over to where he stood, next to two others. The two held Cure guns, while the Private that tightened his cuffs cradled an M16 in his hands.

"Look at this. All these muties just sittin' here. We should just Cure them and get it over with. We'd be taking out, what, two, three hundred of the most dangerous ones right here." He muttered to his two companions, although loud enough for Remy and the others to hear – likely deliberate.

Rogue stiffened where she sat, legs crossed under her, next to Remy, and he glanced over, shooting her a soothing smile. She relaxed slightly, and shot him an affectionate look – one that made him want to just blow up the cuffs, walk over there, and kiss her silly.

He had a pretty good idea what was going through her head – all that she'd gone through to end up deciding against the cure, and this man talking about simply curing everyone there. He knew she was also probably struggling with being the one that had basically forced it on Magneto – who sat a few dozen feet away from them – and this prick wasn't helping her.

"Cut the chatter, Private," a gruff, shaven-headed man said, striding up behind the three soldiers. "Keep your mutant phobias to yourself. No one's getting Cured today unless they try to escape – those are our orders."

The man, his insignia showing him to be a Lieutenant Colonel, seemed to be in charge of the entire operation, as far as Remy had been able to tell from watching the troops move around the site.

The air was filled with a sudden, deafening, roar that cut off any further words from the Lt. Colonel or the privates. The Lt. Colonel looked up at something behind Remy and the others, and Remy started to crane his neck back to see, but the source of the noise revealed itself soon enough.

Dozens of military transport, as well as attack, helicopters swept through the air over their heads, surrounding the island, before beginning to settle down. As they landed, Remy could see men clad in black body armor pouring out of the helicopters, forming a perimeter around the National Guard troops.

One large helicopter, a matte black camouflaging covering its exterior, landed nearby in an area cleared of debris by the troops earlier. Remy could feel the backwash from the rotors blowing at them as it touched down.

The outer door opened, and more men exited, giving Remy a much clearer look at them. They were clad completely in black, wearing helmets with lightly glowing HUD visors in front of one eye, displaying information to them. They were clearly well armed, from the visible odd-looking sleek black assault rifles they carried, to the visible sidearms and grenade belts they had strapped to them.

Remy's eyes shot to the side of the helicopter, and he could just make out a logo familiar quite familiar to him, painted on in a dull grey that blended well with the black of the rest of the helicopter.

The last person hopped from the helicopter and started to stride over to the Lt. Colonel. He was a tall African-American man, decked out in the same armor as the rest of the men, sans a helmet, which revealed his bald head, and a neatly trimmed goatee adorning his face. But the most distinguishing feature was a black eye-patch that covered his left eye.

The helicopter behind him began to power down, lowering the noise level dramatically as he approached.

"Sir," the Lt. Colonel said, straightening to attention, snapping him a salute.

"At ease, Colonel," the man said, his voice rich and deep. He pulled a sheaf of papers from a pocket and handed them to him, along with what Remy recognized as a _Sectera Edge_ encrypted cell-phone.

"Your boys did good work. This is joint DoD-DHS jurisdiction now, and S.H.I.E.L.D. has been given jurisdiction. We'll be taking these mutants into custody. The President is on the line there, to confirm your instructions."

He stood patiently with his hands at his sides while the Lt. Colonel moved off to the side for to consult with the President through on the phone for several minutes. He finally thumbed the connection off, and handed it back to the man. "I relinquish the site to you, sir. They're all yours."

"Thank you son. We can still use your boys to keep the guard up until our transports get here." He said, and the Lt. Colonel automatically followed in step with him as he strode closer to the X-Men.

"Some of them will be released by the President's orders," he said as he came up in front of Hank.

"Colonel Fury, what a pleasant surprise," Hank said with a smile.

"Nice seeing you again, Hank." He greeted him with a nod. He flipped open a pocketknife, and used it to cut away the PlastiCuffs on Hank's wrists, and glanced back at the Lt. Colonel. "The President's given instructions to release Doctor McCoy and anyone he vouches for. Without them, Magneto wouldn't have been stopped in time."

Hank straightened up, massaging lightly at his wrists. He nodded toward the X-Men. "These seven. Everyone else was part of the attack. Ah, and the boy, of course," he said, nodding to the young boy that was the source of the cure – still garbed in his all-white clothes he'd been wearing in the facility – who had been seated near them.

Fury nodded. "The boy can be set free, but he'll remain with me and my men. I've got standing orders to take him into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s protective custody for the time being. Although I'm sure I could put in a good word with the President and get him placed at a certain school in the long run," he said, smiling to Hank.

Fury turned to the soldiers guarding them. "Release them," he ordered, and they moved forward, and began cutting their restraints away.

Remy smirked as the Private who'd bound him reluctantly moved forward, and he charged his restraints, causing them to explode in a soft pop accompanied with a puff of smoke. He stood, straightening his arms, and rubbing at his own wrists.

"I sure hope y'all got better restraints than these for all dese guys. Any of us coulda broken out if we wanted to," Remy said, laughing mentally when the Private backed up rapidly at his display of power.

Fury looked smoothly over to him, and gave him a brief nod. "They'll be good enough in tandem with our own restraints," he said, nodding over to where his men had moved forward to the huddled group of mutants. They'd set down the packs they'd carried, and were in the process of pulling out sleek metallic devices that looked like collars. "Nullifiers." He stated in explanation as his men began, one-by-one, to snap them around the necks of the mutants.

Rogue gasped at the sight, and he grabbed her hand in his, realizing they must be similar to the one Carol's father had forced her to wear. She looked up at him with haunted eyes, and he saw a glimmer of blue appear and then disappear a moment later, and she squeezed his hand tightly, forcing a slight smile on her face.

Logan, the last to be cut free by the men, stood, and looked at Fury. "We free to go?" He asked gruffly.

Fury nodded. "Yes, you're all free to go… Logan."

Logan stiffened in surprise, and his fists clenched, clearly a split second from releasing his adamantium claws. "We know each other?"

Fury frowned, and nodded. "We did. You were on a black-ops team that did some work with me in 'Nam. But S.H.I.E.L.D.'s gone over some of Stryker's old files, so I'm not too surprised you don't remember."

Logan's fists relaxed, and Fury looked him in the eyes. "Maybe we could grab a beer sometime and I'll tell you what I remember 'bout working with you."

Logan nodded tightly, and cleared his throat, trying to decide on a response. "Maybe I'll take you up on that," he settled for. "We should get going now."

Fury nodded toward the roof. "I can have one of my choppers give you a ride to the mainland, or you can just get on your cloaked jet and take off in that."

Logan clenched his jaw at that. "We'll take our jet, 'long as you make sure none of these guys get trigger-happy when they see it take off."

"They won't be a problem." Fury glanced at all of them. "Thank you all for your service to your country today. Give my regards to Charles. Let him know I may have to stop by for a visit. I've got a rather unique business opportunity he may be interested in."

Logan nodded, and started toward the lab building, and the others moved to follow.

"Oh," Rogue said, as she passed Fury. "Cain Marko's inside, in the main lab. Right now he's phased halfway inta th'ground, an' probably unconscious, but Ah'm not sure how long that'll last."

Fury's eyebrows rose. "Thanks, miss. I'll send a team in right away before he wakes up." He said, and raised a hand to his ear, tapping the headset, and pulling the microphone closer to his mouth. "Jamie. Send a team of dupes into the lab once these folks leave. We have a possible Alpha-Threat inside, currently unconscious." He spoke low into the mic, and nodded his thanks to Rogue as she grabbed onto Remy's arm and continued on.

Kitty paused near the boy, Jimmy, who she and Rogue had rescued, and gave him a smile, patting a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, Jimmy. Everything will be fine." She whispered before she followed the others.

John was being groggily pulled to his feet, a power-suppression collar being slid around his neck, when they walked past. He sneered at Bobby. "So you're actually here, Bobby. Too scared to fight me, had to send some nutjob in your place?" He asked, inclining his head toward Remy.

The two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents grabbed his arms fully, and started to pull him back.

Bobby just shook his head. "No, John, I just know when someone can kick your ass even better than I can." He looked sadly at John, who tried to pull his arms from the agents' grips. "Should have stayed, John. You chose the wrong side."

Ororo set a hand on Bobby's shoulder, and he pulled his gaze away from John. "Come now, Bobby. Like you said, he made his choice – now he gets to deal with its consequences."

* * *

Fury watched them go, and then turned to a man standing to his left. "Quartermain, get this kid on a chopper and back to the 'Carrier. He doesn't need to see all this," he said, nodding in the direction of his men clamping collars around the mutants.

Quartermain nodded, and stepped up to the boy. "C'mon, kid, let's get you someplace safe. Ever been on a helicopter?"

The boy shook his head in the negative, and Quartermain smiled widely, putting an arm on his shoulder and leading him toward the helicopter they'd arrived in. "Well you are in for a treat, kid." Fury heard him say as the helicopter's engine started again, and the rotor began to spin slowly, in preparation for take-off.

As the X-Men entered the building, Fury saw one of the agents that had landed in another helicopter pull of his helmet, revealing a rather rugged looking man, with black hair and marble-blue eyes. He tossed the helmet to the side, and snapped his fingers several times. With each snap, another agent – completely identical in looks and dress – appeared next to him; he continued until he had twelve identical copies of himself, and they entered the building, acting as one.

Fury nodded to himself hoping Marko was still out of it – otherwise Jamie would have quite a time subduing him, although knowing Madrox, he'd probably prefer a good fight, he thought with a mental chuckle.

He shook his head. He'd managed to place Jamie – or rather one of his dupes – on the Army convoy with Mystique on the off-chance that Magneto would try to stage an attack, to get an inside man within Magneto's "Brotherhood". They'd faked a criminal history for him to help him in that.

Unfortunately, things had gone wrong almost instantly, with the tracking device on Jamie's dupe going haywire from the close exposure to Magneto's powers when he used them on the convoy truck. The dupe had no clue it had gone wrong, and continued his mission, gaining Magneto's trust, and eventually being left at a camp to fool anyone gaining information about the Brotherhood's location.

Now Fury, on top of dealing with this mess, had to obtain the release of that dupe. His tech-whizzes would be getting an earful over the failure of the tracking device, which they'd assured him should work around Magneto.

Fury raised two fingers to the headset again. "Miss Carter, where are my transports? We're almost done restraining the prisoners."

"On their way, Sir," Sharon Carter's soft voice crackled in over the earpiece. "ETA is one minute – you should be seeing them on the horizon now."

Fury glanced out toward the bay, and could make out the shapes of several large aircraft, flying near the gap Magneto had created pulling out part of the Golden Gate Bridge. Each was a large VTOL personnel carrier, and they could each hold thirty or forty of the prisoners.

He heard a muted roar, and looked back at the facility, making out a glimmer of a shape as the cloaked X-jet took off. His earpiece crackled, and Jamie's voice came over it. "Boss, we've got Marko in a suppression collar, but we're going to need some cutting tools to get him out of the floor. Good thing we got here when we did – he was just starting to wake up."

"Alright, Jamie. Leave a few of your dupes to watch him, and fly back to the 'Carrier for the equipment you need."

"Roger that, sir."

Finally, Fury thought, things seemed to be going according to plan. First time in a long time.

* * *

Kitty stopped on the roof when she saw Warren Worthington Sr. walk past them, an unreadable expression on his face. Her gaze turned to the X-jet – still cloaked – where the ramp was now visible and lowered, and caught a glimpse of Warren disappearing up it.

She nudged Piotr with her elbow, and he looked over at her. "Pete - I think Warren's dad just walked past us."

Piotr looked at her with confusion, and then his eyes widened, as Warren's name clicked in his head with the older man who he knew had funded the Cure. "No wonder he came to the Institute. How much worse could it get than your father not only creating the Cure, but also trying to cure you?" Piotr asked sadly, and Kitty nodded in agreement.

* * *

The X-jet settled on the landing pad in the Hangar Room with a final roar of engines, and there was a slight whine as the hydraulics began to lower the ramp.

Xavier turned around as Ororo finished shutting down the jet, and slid his gaze over the X-Men. "You all were exceptional today, and I must say I am very proud of you all. You took your training, and showed that you are truly X-Men," he said, looking at Piotr, Kitty, and Bobby in particular at that.

"Usually we'd have a short debriefing, but since I was there, and since I think you all deserve a good rest after today, we'll skip it this time. Go, get something to eat, get a shower, and get some rest." He said gently. As they unbuckled their flight restraints, and began to file out of the jet, he nodded to Ororo. "You as well. I can handle the rest of the shutdown."

As Remy stepped through the doorway of the hangar and into the main hallway, he was struck by a pinkish blur as Sarah launched herself into his arms, and he had to stagger back a few steps to avoid being knocked on his ass for the second time that day.

Sarah, who'd thrown her arms around his neck tightly, pulled back. Her eyes roamed over his face and then across his shoulders and arms, a worried look in her teary eyes. "Remy! Remy - are you hurt?" She asked, worry thick in her voice.

He shook his head, giving her a soft smile. "Just a few scrapes an' bruises, Sarah."

She let out a soft sob and buried her face in the crook of his neck, squeezing him tightly. He ran a hand up and down her back, and whispered into her ear. "It's okay, _ma mignonne_. I'm back, an' I'm okay. I ain' leavin' you."

She eventually calmed, and shifted slightly in his arms, and looked over his shoulder. She stretched out a hand to touch Rogue's shoulder. "Are you okay too, Rogue?" She asked softly.

Rogue moved closer, and gave her a reassuring grin. "Yeah, sweetie. Just a few bruises too. Not much c'n hurt me these days."

Sarah sniffed, and swiped away a tear with the back of her hand. "Ev'ryone was watchin' the whole thing on TV. They had news helicopters takin' video from far out, and all you could see was a bunch of people fighting, and lights flashing, an' I didn't know if you were alright."

Remy frowned to himself, wishing they hadn't been televising the entire thing for Sarah to see. "Well, it's all over now, _petite_, an' we're all okay. No one got hurt."

Rogue placed a hand on his shoulder, wanting to give them some time alone together. "Ah'm gonna go take a shower, you two. Ah'll see yah."

Remy nodded, and Sarah looked at her. "See you, Rogue. I'm glad you're not hurt." She said, and Rogue hid a smile as she walked away.

Remy glanced down at Sarah, and reached out, running a finger over her cheek to wipe away a tear-track. "It's really late, _petite_, let's get you to bed." He said softly – by the time they'd been released, plus the flight back, it was already close to midnight.

Sarah nodded, and wordlessly laid her head on his shoulder as he carried her to the elevator. As the elevator rose to the top floor, and they exited, Sarah turned her head. "Remy, can I sleep by you tonight?"

He looked down at her, and nodded gently. "Of course, _petite_. Let's get you somethin' t'wear."

They stopped briefly in her room, grabbing a pair of pink pajamas, and then went to his room. He set her down on the bed, and gently pried her arms from his neck.

"Alrigh', _petite_, I'm gonna take a quick shower an' change clothes. You jus' stay here, _hein_?"

She nodded, and sat on the bed, curling up onto his pillow.

Remy grabbed a pair of clothes and took them into the bathroom, setting them on the counter next to the sink. He gingerly removed his trenchcoat, avoiding brushing the area on his arm that had been slightly singed. He took a look at it – the hairs were much shorter, having been nearly completely burned off by John's flame, and the skin was a very slight puffy pink, but nothing serious.

He swiftly undid the hidden catches on his armor, and peeled it off., tossing it to the side as he started up the water in the shower. He showered quickly, and was toweling off minutes later. He slipped on the jeans and t-shit he'd brought in, and opened the door to the bathroom.

He moved quietly around the corner, until he saw Sarah was still awake, in the same place she'd been when he entered. He smiled, and walked over to sit on the edge bed next to her.

"Why don' you put your pajamas on, _petite_. I'm gonna go say g'night to Rogue, an' den I'll come back here an' we can go to sleep."

"Okay, Remy," Sarah said, crawling to the edge of the bed to grab her pajamas, and then padding softly across the floor in her socks toward the bathroom.

Remy stood as the door clicked shut, and strode over to the door to the hallway. He walked down the hall, noting the heavy silence – not that unusual, given the events of the day.

He knocked softly on Rogue's door. "Door's open," Rogue's voice called from inside.

Remy turned the knob, and opened the door, entering, and then pushing it shut behind him. Rogue looked up at him with a smile from where she was sitting on her bed.

She'd changed clothes, into a loose t-shirt and a pair of pants, and her hair was still rather wet from her shower. She was sitting on her bed, her knees up toward her chest, with a large, open book resting on her lap.

Remy walked over to her, and sat down on the edge of the bed next to her. "Hey, _Chére_. Physics?" He asked, his eyes running over the open pages.

Rogue nodded, and set the book to the side, leaning over to kiss his cheek. "Yeah. Jus' doin' a little studyin'. Ah wanna spend as little time on it durin' break as Ah can."

Remy nodded, and then met her gaze with his own concerned one. He reached down and grabbed her hand in his, bringing it up to kiss the back of her hand. "You doin' alrigh', Rogue? Wit' Magneto an' all dat?"

Rogue sighed, and leaned back, letting him put his arms around her. "Yeah, Ah guess. Ah – Ah know that doin' that was th'right thing t'do, an' probably the only way t'really stop him. It's just a little tough bein' th'one who did it to him, but Ah'm dealin' with it, Ah think."

Remy nodded, running his fingers through her still damp hair. "I t'ink it was de only way he'd ever get stopped, an' I don' think dat we woulda made it outta dere wit' no injuries if it hadn' been for you. Y'fought really well, _Chére_, an' you did what you had t'do."

Rogue smiled slightly, blushing, and leaned her head back so that her cheek brushed his for a moment. "Thanks, Remy," she whispered.

They sat like that, Remy holding her, stroking her hair, for several minutes, and Remy knew he'd have to break away soon and get back to his room.

Rogue suddenly looked up, back at him. "Remy? Ah've been thinkin'. Ah know Ah'm the one that asked you t'do it, but Ah hate this – this hidin'. Ah don' care who knows 'bout us anymore. Let's jus' do things nat'rally, an' let everyone else figure it out for themselves. Ah wanna be able to hold your hand walkin' down the halls, or kiss you at breakfast in front of other people. Ah wanna have things like this, an' not hide it."

Remy grinned broadly. "You won' hear an' argument from me. B'sides, I think everyone's already got a pretty good idea dat we're together. I certainly ain' gonna pass up de chance to be wit' you more often."

Rogue shot him a sweet smile, and he leaned forward, kissing the corner of her mouth softly – the only part he could reach from the angle she was at. "I should get going, _ma Chére_," he said softly, his lips brushing near her ear. "Sarah's waitin' for me to tuck her in."

Rogue nodded, and reluctantly allowed him to pull away. "Say goodnight to her for me, okay?" She said.

"I will. An' you should get to sleep soon too. Don' stay up too late studyin'. It's already pretty late."

Rogue picked up her book once more, and set it back on her lap. "Ah won't. Just a little bit more. Good night, Remy."

"G'night, _Chére_," he said softly, closing the door behind him.

* * *

Logan slowly pushed the door to Jean's room open, and found her sitting on her bed, her arms wrapped around her knees. "Hey," he said softly. "It's over. Magneto's done."

She nodded, and looked over to him as he sat down next to her. "I know. She felt it when it ended," she said, somewhat bitterly referring to Phoenix, leaning into Logan when he placed an arm around her shoulder.

"You still doin' alright?"

She nodded shakily. "I am now. She can still sense other things coming in the future, but right now she's pretty quiet. I- I saw in one of her visions what would have happened if I'd come with you." Jean said with a shudder.

"Not good, huh?" Logan asked, a knowing look on his face.

She shook her head quickly. "No. So many people would have died. She would have broken loose. And you would have killed me."

He looked at her in shock. "What? No, Jean. I couldn't do something like that. Not to you."

She smiled kindly at him, and reached up, placing a hand on his face. "You would if you saw what she was capable of. You would if I begged you to, to keep her from killing anyone else." She shook her head. "But that's passed, now. Things will be different now."

He nodded numbly, running a hand up and down her back. "Jean. Do you want me to stay, or…." He trailed off when she looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Go to bed, Logan. I'm not ready for that…. temptation yet," she said, wetting her lips with her tongue. "Not with Scott…" she broke off and shook her head. "I'm not sure _when_ I'll be ready. But I'll let you know, if you're still waiting when I am."

* * *

Sarah had already changed, and was lying on the bed when Remy returned, under the covers, but still wide awake.

Remy moved to the bedside, and lifted the corner of the covers, sliding in underneath next to her, and she instantly leaned against him.

"Remy?" She asked softly, resting her chin on his chest. "Is Magneto gone?"

Remy leaned over, kissing her forehead. "Yeah, _petite_. He's gone. He got Cured in de fight, an' he's gettin' locked up, an' won' be hurtin' anyone else for a long time."

Sarah seemed to relax against him, and he ran a hand up and down her back. She was quiet for some time, and he thought she'd fallen asleep, when she suddenly looked up at him, resting her chin on his chest again.

"Remy," she said, a slight blush on her cheeks. "Did you- did you mean what you said before? You really love me?"

She wanted, so much, to believe it – Ororo had told her he did, and he had even said it, but it was also hard for her to truly believe it. She could still hear her father's words as he drove the car, and later tossed her out the passenger's door onto the streets of New York, telling her he couldn't stand the sight of her, and no one could ever love a mutant.

Remy's eyes widened, and he sat up, and grabbed her arms, pulling her up closer to him. He placed his hands on both of her cheeks, and looked into her troubled blue eyes.

"I really love you, Sarah. Always will. You mean so much to me, _petite_."

She took in a shuddering breath, and a lone tear trailed down her cheek, and she darted forward, pressing several kisses against his cheek. "I love you too, Remy." She said in a choked up voice. "I was so worried when you were out there. I was afraid I might never see you again."

He pulled her close, resting his chin on the top of her head, ignoring the slight digging of her forehead spikes into his skin. "Sarah, I'll do evry'thin' I can to always be dere for you. I promise."

* * *

The next morning, Remy woke up early, and ate breakfast with Sarah before she went to her first class with Charles. She'd woken up only once during the night from a nightmare, and as he'd been right next to her, she'd quickly fallen back to sleep.

She'd seemed much more upbeat this morning, and he had a feeling it had to do with their talk the previous night, and found himself wishing he'd told her much earlier, rather than hinted to her with his actions and words, how much she meant to him.

He'd just kissed her forehead, having walked with her to the outside of her classroom, and let her enter to go and sit at one of the desks. He turned from the door, and made his way back to the kitchen to finish cleaning up the dishes they'd used.

As he entered the kitchen, he spotted Rogue sitting at one of the tables, eating a bowl of cereal. He grabbed his and Sarah's plates and cups, and placed them in the dishwasher, and then approached Rogue's table.

He frowned slightly, observing her as he approached, and finally slid into a chair across from her. "Hey Carol," he said softly.

Her head snapped up to him, her eyes wide, showing the now tell-tale blue tinge around her irises. "How -" She began quietly, clearly confused.

Remy chuckled. "Well, I know my Rogue, an' you hold y'self differen' than her. Diffren' body language."

She blushed. "First person I see, and they know instantly I'm not Rogue," she muttered, shaking her head.

He grinned. "Well, I think you could probably pull it off wit' anyone else, 'long as y'could get the accent down."

She smiled back, and looked down at her cereal bowl. "Rogue's exhausted, so I'm taking care of things while she gets some rest."

Remy's forehead creased. "Does dat work? Wouldn' her body still get tired?"

Carol shrugged. "We're tryin' to figure that out. I know that when I had my powers, it took a lot to exhaust me physically, but mentally I still needed a rest, and since Rogue's got all my powers, I think it'll work the same. I'm gonna take her first class this morning, and we're going to see how it works out in that respect – if she'll be able to remember the things her mind hears while I'm in control and she's asleep."

She looked at Remy. "Although, the whole reason we're doing this is she didn't listen to you and kept studying last night until almost three-thirty." Carol said, sounding exasperated.

Remy sighed, and shook his head. "She can get pretty stubborn if she wants t'be."

He played with the sleeve of his trenchcoat for a minute, and then looked curiously at Carol. "So how're you doin'? De two of us have never really talked dat much."

Carol shrugged. "I'm alright. It's a little weird, being stuck in someone's head, knowing you're just a piece of someone else even though you feel like you're the real thing. But I kinda like it. I get to see most of what Rogue sees, and being here is so completely different from my own life, it's just….. new."

Remy smiled kindly, and shook his head. "I was actually askin' 'bout how you're doin' after last night. Y'know, bein' in de fight wit' de Cure, an' all dat."

Her shoulders drooped slightly, and she sighed. "Alright. The Cure… my dad wanted me to take it, but I guess I wasn't really worried about it last night, other than that one of you guys would get hit, because I don't think any of those darts could have even penetrated her skin. But…. seeing those collars…. it just brought everything back, even worse than when we went to see my mom." She said, shivering.

Remy nodded, and placed a hand over hers on the table. "You're a strong girl, Carol."

Carol blushed and shrugged. "Maybe. But I don't think I could ever be as strong as Rogue. I don't think I would be able to handle what she's gone through with her powers."

Remy sighed, and felt a surge of pride over Rogue. "I know. Speakin' of dat, how're things goin' in her mind? She tol' me you were helpin' her heal it."

Carol shrugged. "It's going alright. That whole Phoenix thing didn't exactly help her. We've got so much to do, and I can only help out when Rogue's in there with me. The Professor seemed to think that what she did when the Phoenix first started to attack her mind was a good sign that she's getting a lot more control."

Remy smiled slightly at that. "Good. She needs some sorta good news like dat to keep her spirits up."

Carol nodded. "I know," she said, and then sighed, looking at the clock. "Well, I've gotta head off to Rogue's class." She said, standing and grabbing her now-empty bowl. "I'll tell Rogue we talked when I get her to wake up. I know she wanted to spend a bit of time with you later this afternoon after she's done packing, and before she heads off to the airport with Dani tonight."

Remy nodded in thanks, and watched her leave, before standing from the table, deciding to head downstairs for a short workout. He was glad Rogue had someone like Carol in her head, helping her out, helping her heal in ways that he couldn't.

* * *

"The young man in the back, with the black shirt," Creed said, pointing to him.

One of his aides hurried over to the man with a microphone. They were in the middle of a town hall meeting, and thus far had been talking about health care and immigration, but Creed had now opened it up to other questions.

"Hi, Jim Whitefield." The man said, leaning close to his microphone, causing it to boom loudly.

"Sorry," he said and pulled back. "Jim Whitefield. Thank you for coming to our small town, today, Senator Creed, and taking the time to answer all of our questions. Now, my question is to ask for your thoughts on the incident on Alcatraz Island yesterday."

Creed nodded, and lifted his own microphone to his mouth. "Thank you for having me, Jim, and thank you for your question. Now, as most of you know, the mutant terrorist Magneto led an assault on Worthington Labs' research building based on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco. I've heard estimates of close to 300 mutants following him. The Golden Gate Bridge, a national symbol and historical relic, was destroyed by Magneto during the attack as well. They're saying it will take at least several years to repair it."

"Now, I mentioned this about a week ago, in my debate, and I've mentioned it numerous other times in these town hall meetings and campaign speeches. This is the sort of terrorism I've been striving to fight against, by getting the Registration Act passed. When it's passed, all mutants must register, and their powers be recorded, so that our police and our soldiers know exactly what they may be facing if another terrorist – another Magneto – shows up, with the power to destroy cities."

"It was only the brave work of our men and women in uniform that stopped this man, and led to the surrender of his insurrectionist army, and I extend my thanks towards them, as well as my deepest sympathy for those brave men and women who put their lives on the line and paid the ultimate price in that fight. This Act, which I promise to get passed if I am elected, will greatly reduce the price our troops and defenders have to pay by knowing ahead of time what the next mutant terrorist is capable of."

This was met with a loud roar of clapping and shouts of approval from the crowd, and he waited nearly a half-minute before he could speak again over the crowd. "Now it's a woman's turn. You, in the front, young miss with the pink blouse."

She stepped forward and took the microphone. "I don't want to tarnish our servicemen and servicewomen who defended our country yesterday, Senator, but isn't it true that Magneto's terrorism on Alcatraz was stopped largely by the actions of another mutant group that in the end took down Magneto and effected the surrender of his army – a group I believe is being called the 'X-Men'? What would you say to them? Should they be forced to Register as a 'reward' for their help saving our troops' lives?"

The briefest frown crossed over Creed's face at the question – apparently they hadn't screened quite well enough to weed out all of those that wouldn't give him softball questions.

"Thank you for your question. As far as I am aware, such reports are thus far only _rumors_, and I have heard no credible reports or seen any video of this supposed mutant group. In any case, if they did assist our soldiers, I give them a hearty thanks. Nevertheless, in my opinion such an action smacks of vigilantism, and yes, I would want them to Register under the Act if it passes. If they'd like to work with the government as a sanctioned group, and assist us, that is fine. But what happens when the vigilante turns into an even worse criminal and threatens those they claim to protect?"

Another roar drowned out a response from the woman, and the aide jerked the microphone away, out of her hands before she could respond when the noise died down.

Creed smiled politely, and glanced at the teleprompter, which was showing a red light. "Alright, I can take one more question. Someone in the back."

The microphone ended up in the hands of an elderly man who stood near the back. "Senator Creed, I'm grateful for you coming here and giving us answers to our questions. Now, I recently found out that my young grandson, who I love more than anything on this planet, is a mutant. I have a two part question for you. First, what will happen to my grandson if you become president and pass this Registration Act? And second, if you had a child, and discovered he or she was a mutant, would you get them to Register?"

Creed smiled kindly at the man as he sat back down. "Thank you, sir, for your questions. Let me address your second question first, because it has the simplest and shortest answer: yes, I would get my child to Register, in a heartbeat. Registering would maintain his own safety as well as that of others."

"Now, for your first question, I want to be very clear about this. None of the things you may have heard from the pro-mutant lobbies are true. Your grandson will not be rounded up and put in an internment camp, your grandson will not be Registered in order to withhold medical insurance or treatment from him, and your grandson will not be discriminated against, under this Act. This is all, quite simply, inflammatory rhetoric put forth by the liberal left to discredit the Act, and endanger our citizens and our police and soldiers."

"The only thing that will happen, is he will be encouraged to register his name, and his mutant powers, and this information will be recorded to a database. He'll receive a card showing he has registered, much like a driver's license, or a firearms license. The information in the database will be used by police, just like all DMV records, and criminal history records. And that is **all **that will happen."

Creed stepped back, and swept his gaze over the crowd. "Thank you, all, for coming here and asking your wonderful questions. I hope to see you all again in the future."

Creed exited to loud applause, walking along a corridor already cleared by Secret Service agents, and his own bodyguards, pausing from time to time to warmly shake peoples' hands as he passed them. He finally reached his limo, and gave a last wave, and entered the open door.

He and Mikaela had taken the past two days off, and he'd only scheduled this single rally/meeting for today – the rest of the weekend would also be taken off, given his opponent's withdrawal early Wednesday morning. Now all he had to do was let the Democrats fight it out while firmly campaigning on his own as well as against both of them. Their infighting would only help him.

The door closed, and the car began to drive toward his hotel where Mikaela was waiting for him for an evening out. He swept the car for bugs, and then pulled out his secure cell phone, dialing up Ronald, who was still out in Montana.

The phone rang five times, before he picked up. "Gray! You're out of your rally?"

"Yes, Ron. We'll need to have a strategy meeting on getting better screening. I didn't exactly like some of the questions I got. We need more plants to ask the hard questions in a more appealing way." Creed said.

"Alright," Ron said. "When I get back tomorrow, we'll go over that with the staff."

"Good. Now, how is Montana?"

"Excellent, Gray," Ron replied. "This place they have is amazing. Absolutely astounding what they're doing, what they're creating here. And they've got to have at least fifty mutants, all used for testing. I've been talking to their leader, and he's very sympathetic toward our cause, and he has even expressed interest in becoming an official member of the Purifiers. Right now what they have may take a few weeks to a month to be ready, but when it is, the mutants won't know what hit them."

Graydon smiled to himself. "Excellent. Now, I think this may be the time to start pushing our advantage. Magneto played right into our hands, and couldn't have played his role any more perfectly. The whole Golden Gate Bridge thing was more than I could ever have asked for. We need to keep the groups striking while the metal is hot, while the anti-mutant sentiments are at their highest."

He could almost hear Ron's nod. "Exactly my thoughts Gray. Eli's already planning a few attacks with some energy weapons they 'acquired'. It should make them look like mutant attacks. We'll need them to keep pressing the fake attacks now that Magneto's not around to plan them."

"Good," Creed said. "We also need to push the artificial intelligence project. I want that going and with our programming inserted in as soon as they have their first full test run next week."

"Will do, Gray. I'll meet with our inside man on Sunday."

"Alright, Ron. Enjoy yourself for the rest of your little break out there. I'll see you tomorrow." Creed said, and then snapped his phone shut, looking out the window to see his hotel already approaching. Now he could simply relax for most of the rest of the weekend, and spend some much needed time with his wife.

* * *

_**A/N**__: Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Lots of nods to the comics (plenty of SHIELD agent mentions), and of course Sam Jacks-oops, I mean Nick Fury. A bit non-movie storyline of my own with Jamie Madrox (incidentally one of my more favored characters of the comics) – he may be popping up sometime in the future as well. ;-)_

_We've officially reached the halfway point in the story – that is, if it ends up being 40 chapters (could end up being a few shorter, but who knows)._

_Next chapter should have a bit of Remy/Ororo interaction, which I've realized there hasn't been a whole lot of lately, and should cover all or most of their break, so look for some skiing antics . :) _


	21. Chapter 21: Vacation: Part One

_**Disclaimer: X-Men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-Men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway ;)**_

_A/N: This is the first half of the Break (originally their whole break was going to be one chapter, but it grew well beyond my expectations, so it's gonna be a two parter). Not much Romy this chap (next one should have a lot), but plenty of Remy/Ororo and Remy/Sarah, as well as a bit of action. Anyways, on with the new chapter:_

**Chapter 21: Vacation – Part One**

* * *

_"This way!" Remy yelled over the roar of firing weapons._

_The two mutants followed closely as he led them through several twisting narrow passageways found when he memorized the blueprints of the facility._

_After one turn he let his companions run past him, and then tossed a charged deck of cards back the way they had come to collapse the ceiling of the passageway, blocking off their pursuers, and forcing them to find another way to them._

_"You almost done, Logan?" Remy asked into his slim earpiece._

_A moment later, as Remy began to lead again, Logan's voice crackled over the speakers. "Just finished, Cajun. The rest of the guards won't be a problem, an' I just cleaned out the control room. Already headin' out to the jet. Where are you?"_

_"Ran into a few problems an' got hung up. Should be up dere in two minutes. Iceboy?"_

_Bobby's voice came over the earpiece. "I've iced up everything I could, I'm already back at the jet."_

_"Good. Kurt, I need your help – I picked up a few mutants de creeps were keepin' locked up. Get dem to de jet while I blow dis place."_

_"I am on my way," Kurt responded._

_A minute later, Kurt slid to a stop in front of them as they charged up a set of stairs._

_Remy glanced to his two companions. "Don' worry, he's wit' me. Follow him an' we'll get you outta here. I'll be right behind you."_

_"This way," Kurt said, and they hesitantly followed him._

_Remy moved back down the flight of stairs, and pulled off a glove and slapped his full bare hand against the wall. He gritted his teeth, and slowly a magenta glow began pulsing out along the wall, and then to the floor, moving along the hallway._

_Nearly a minute later, Remy pulled his hand away, gasping from the exertion of such a large charge. He gritted his teeth._

_"Pick me up – big __picture window__, south side, third floor down." He said, his gaze sweeping to the large window of the multistoried complex. He'd mentally delayed the charge, giving himself just over a minute before it blew._

_"Already moving," Ororo said over his earpiece, and he heard the muted roar of the X-Jet's engines._

_A moment later it grew louder and she spoke again. "Just a few seconds."_

_The plane lowered, hovering in place with it's ramp open, in front of the window, and there was a sudden *Bamf*, and Kurt appeared next to him and grabbed his arm. Remy felt a squeezing sensation across his entire body, followed by a sense of complete vertigo, and found himself on the metal decking of the Jet, the smell of sulfur filling the air._

_"Get us out of here, Stormy. Dere's gonna be a nice big boom in half a minute." He gritted out, climbing to his feet and trying to shake the vertigo as the ramp closed._

_He grabbed the back of the nearest headrest, and pulled himself forward against the sudden thrust as Ororo coaxed the engines, making his way up to drop into the copilot's seat._

_Remy punched a button on the console, and a plasma display turned on, displaying the composite view from a number of rear-facing cameras embedded in the hull of the Jet. He watched, still mentally counting down as they started to climb. _

"_Three, two, one," Remy muttered to himself before the sky behind them lit up as the upper stories of the facility exploded in a brilliant flash._

_He started to turn to grin at Ororo when the camera refocused, and he glimpsed someone running out of the bottom floor of the building, stopping a few dozen feet away._

_Remy started to punch up the magnification of the image, and it resolved itself showing a man with a long tube on his shoulder. The back flashed, and something shot out of the front at high speed._

"_Shit! Punch it Stormy, de nutjobs jus' launched a missile at us!" Remy said, reaching over to yank on the throttle before Ororo could even react, and everyone was pressed back into their seats by the increase in speed._

_A moment later, the main LCD began to ping, and showed a single missile following them, and quickly gaining ground. _

'_Could I __**ever**__ have a job go off without a hitch?' He asked himself._

* * *

**72 Hours Earlier**

"You sure you got everythin', _Chére_?" Remy asked her. He, Rogue, and Dani were standing near the security checkpoint of the airport. Dani had moved a few steps away, giving them a bit of privacy.

Remy had given them a ride, driving one of the cars in the garage, removing the need for a taxi. They'd picked up their tickets, and were about to leave through the checkpoint to the main terminals.

Rogue patted her large duffel and her smaller purse. "Ah should be alright. Don' think Ah forgot anythin'." She smiled at him, and leaned closer. "Ah'll miss yah, Remy."

Remy placed his forehead a fraction of an inch away from hers, and looked into her eyes. "I'll miss you too, Rogue. But it'll only be a few days. Sarah an' I will be out dere by Tuesday."

"Be safe, _Chére_," Remy whispered, placing a hand on the back of her head. He used it to pull her forward slightly and plant his lips against hers, kissing her deeply until he began to feel light-headed.

He pulled back with a slight grin at the glazed-over look of her eyes, and grabbed her hands which had started to glow, pulling the charge into his own hands.

Rogue shook her head as if to clear it, and blushed. "Y'shouldn't do that to me without a warnin'." She said, poking his chest. "Ah should get some sorta notice that you're gonna try to scramble mah brain like that," she said, smiling shyly.

Remy's grin grew wider. "Alrigh', _Chére_, I'll try t'remember to warn you next time."

Rogue leaned forward and kissed his cheek. "See yah in a few days." She said and turned, still blushing, to Dani who was grinning at her, and they walked toward the security checkpoint – fortunately with only two people ahead of them already putting their luggage on the conveyor belts.

They pulled off their shoes and passed through the metal detector and x-ray without difficulty, grabbing their things on the way to the tram that took them to their terminal.

They sat down on one of the ends of the tram, only a few others entering with them to stand and hold onto the poles further down the length of their car.

Dani smiled over to Rogue. "That was some kiss. Not exactly what I'd call keeping a low profile."

Rogue flushed. "It certainly was. Wasn' expectin' it from him. We've kinda decided to be open with our dating now, Ah mean, it'll be a whole week before we're around anyone but you. We jus' didn' want t'hide it anymore."

Dani grinned. "Well that's good. As long as you two don't turn all mushy all the time. So I take it things are still going good?"

Rogue nodded as the tram came to a halt and they exited through the doors, slowly moving toward their gate. "Yeah, it really is. Remy's so sweet, an' always worryin' 'bout me. He always knows when Ah need to talk about somethin' an' when somethin' is botherin' me."

Rogue sighed happily as they reached their gate and sat down in two seats – the boarding of their flight just beginning for the first class passengers. "Ah just…. Ah feel it with him, y'know? It's different than anythin' else I've felt, an' it jus' feels _right_. Ah never felt like this with Bobby, or even with Cody."

Rogue smiled, and looked over to Dani. "Now what 'bout you?"

"Me?" Dani asked, looking flustered.

"Yes, you," Rogue said. "Ah'm pretty sure Ah ain't the only one that's been seein' you makin' eyes at Sam."

Dani put a hand over her mouth, blushing. "Have I really been that obvious?"

Rogue grinned. "To just 'bout ev'ryone but Sam."

Dani groaned, but her expression changed at that. "I know, he's pretty clueless when it comes to things like this. I don't know what to do to get him to notice me or realize I like him."

Rogue patted her shoulder and stood up as their seating area was called. "Ah'm sure yah'll be able to knock some sense into him somehow." She said, and then stepped forward to hand her ticket to the attendant at the gate when the line moved forward.

They made their way down the ramp and to their seats. Dani had gotten them tickets to seats toward the front of the economy class, ones with a bit more legroom than the seats further in the back, and after moving past several people who spent an inordinate amount of time in the aisle, they sat down in the seats.

Rogue shifted around, pulling the seatbelt from under her and buckling it in before lifting the visor that had been lowered in front of her window. Dani sat next to her in the middle seat, and the aisle seat was still open.

Rogue settled back, and glanced at Dani. "Ah'm glad we finally get a break like this. Ev'rythin's been just goin' way too fast for me."

Dani nodded. "I'll bet. It hasn't been nearly as hectic for me, but I just need a break from school. And I really missed my family, and it'll be great to see them again…." Dani trailed off, glancing warily over at Rogue, hiding a wince.

Rogue gave her a slight smile and shook her head, knowing what she was thinking. "Y'all don't hafta keep tiptoein' around me about family, Dani. Ah've accepted it, an' it doesn' bother me much anymore. Ah know mah parents are 'fraid of me, an that hurts a bit, but now Ah know Ah could have it a lot worse," she said, thinking of the lives both Carol, and worse, Sarah had had growing up.

Dani nodded with a hesitant smile.

Rogue decided to pull the subject away from that. "How's Rahne been doin'? Ah haven't talked t'her in a while. Woulda thought you'd have given her an invite too."

Dani frowned, and sighed. "I did, actually. But she's underage, so her dad would need to give his permission, and she said he wouldn't. I don't really blame him, but… I met him once, when he picked her up at winter break, and… I don't know, just something about him seems off."

"Off? Like, 'gives yah the creeps' off, or 'not all there upstairs' off?" Rogue asked.

Dani shrugged. "I don't know. He's like this strict pastor guy, from what Rahne's told me, and I don't think he treats her like he should. I think he's the reason she's so shy about everything. I can't say he, like, beats her up or something like that, but I don't know. He just never felt right to me."

Rogue frowned, and bit her bottom lip for a moment. "Dani, Ah think you should tell th'Professor. He should be able to check it out. Maybe the guy's just a little weird or somethin', but it's better safe than sorry." Rogue lowered her voice. "Y'got at least a bit of telepathy t'make your powers work, so it might actually be somethin'."

Dani nodded hesitantly. "I guess you're right. If something's wrong, we have to stop it. I'll call the Professor tomorrow so he can look into it when Rahne's dad brings her back after break."

Further discussion, at least as far as mutants went, was ended when a man shoved his bags into the overhead compartment and sat down in the aisle seat next to Dani. He gave the girls an appraising look, and then jammed a pair of earbuds into his ears and turned on his mp3 player, the music blasting from the earbuds and audible to both Dani and Rogue.

Rogue rolled her eyes, and Dani returned the look as the flight attendants up front began their safety speech. Rogue felt her seat jolt, and then again, and she realized a misbehaving young boy behind her was kicking her seat, ignoring his mother's demands that he stop.

She closed her eyes, and rubbed at her forehead. '_The joys of flying_,' she thought wryly to herself, trying to tune out the kicking and the noise from their row-mate's headphones.

* * *

The flight to Washington DC had been uneventful, but their flight from DC to Denver had been delayed because of mechanical problems, and they ended up sitting at the Dulles Airport for over an hour beyond the scheduled layover.

It was already dark by the time they'd arrived, even with the time changes of being two time zones earlier, and they'd been able to see the brightly lit skyscrapers of Denver to the west as they flew in.

After finally getting off the plane, they went to the tram that brought them from their concourse to the large Jeppsen Terminal. Dani had flipped her phone open, and called her parents as they walked through the large open space of the terminal.

Rogue looked over as Dani closed her phone and shot her a smile. "Let's go out to the pickup zone. My parents are in a parking lot a few miles away from here and they're starting to head over here."

Rogue nodded, and Dani lead her up past the baggage claims – they'd both packed lightly and had taken only carry-on luggage – and out into an underground structure open on either end, where cars were parked along the curb as people put their luggage in the trunks and greeted loved-ones.

Eventually, a light blue, pickup truck rounded the corner, and Dani smiled, waving to get their attention. "That's my dad's truck," she said to Rogue.

The beat-up truck pulled to an open spot along the curb a dozen feet to their left, and they started walking over to it. Both doors opened as the truck shut off.

From the passenger's door, Dani's mother emerged, and Rogue was struck by the similarity between them. Her mother looked like an older version of Dani, with a few wrinkles on her forehead and around her eyes, and a bit taller than Dani.

Dani's father circled around the truck as he left the driver's side. He was a tall, dark haired man with a bronzed complexion, his face clearly well-weathered from time spent outside. He had long black hair pulled back into a braided ponytail – nearly as long as Dani's own – and a few streaks of gray were visible near his temples.

Dani moved forward, and was greeted by a hug from her mother and father. "Mom, Dad, I missed you both so much."

"It's so great to see you again, Dani," Her mother said, pulling back slightly to look her over. "I swear you get taller each time you're away."

Dani laughed. "No, mom, I got a physical a week ago – still the same height. Maybe you guys are just shrinking," she said, her eyes twinkling.

Dani's mother let go of her, and looked past her to where Rogue was standing. "And you must be Rogue," she said, smiling warmly. She moved forward and pulled a surprised Rogue into the same hug she had her daughter.

Dani's father moved forward and shook Rogue's hand as her mother pulled back. "Nice to finally put a face to your name, Rogue."

Rogue smiled. "Thank you for havin' me, Mr. and Mrs. Moonstar. Ah really appreciate it."

Dani's mother placed a hand on her arm. "It's no bother at all. Dani's told us so much about you, and we wanted to meet you. I'm glad you could come."

Her father nodded. "And please, I'm William, and this is Peg."

Rogue nodded shyly, and then William reached down to grab Dani's bags. "Let's toss your luggage in and get going before it gets too late."

He picked up Dani's bags and set them down in the bed of the truck, and Rogue moved next to him, placing her own in it as well. Dani pulled the lever on the side of her mother's seat, pushing it forward, allowing her and then Rogue to climb in the back seat of the pickup.

Peg moved the seat back, and climbed in, while William circled the truck and jumped up into his own seat. He slammed the door as he turned his keys in the ignition, starting the old truck up with a loud rumble of its engine, and stepped down on the clutch, shifting into gear to start it moving.

They drove out into the streetlamp-lit road leading out of the terminal, and drove past an enormous statue of a dark blue stallion rearing back on its hind legs. The glowing red eyes of the statue gave it an almost menacing look.

"Wow, that thing's a little creepy," Rogue said.

Peg laughed. "I think so too. Maybe if they'd kept the red lights out of the eyes, it would've been alright, but now it just looks evil." She said as they continued down the road.

As William pulled the truck onto the main highway, he glanced back over his shoulder to Rogue. "So, where are you from, Rogue?"

"Ah'm from Meridian, down in Miss'ippi," she said.

William nodded. "I've been to Mississippi a few times before. Nice state – a lot of good fishing."

Rogue smiled, somewhat sadly. "Yeah, mah dad used t'take me fishin' with him all the time, before Ah found out Ah was a mutant."

Peg looked back, shooting her a sympathetic smile. "Dani said you aren't on best terms with them anymore."

"Mom," Dani said, a low warning in her voice.

Rogue shook her head, shooting a reassuring look over to Dani. "We aren't. They're scared of me. Last talked t'them a few months after Ah came to the Institute, t'see how they were doin', an' that didn' go well."

Peg nodded, giving her a sad, knowing look. "I guess some people just don't react to the news that their kid is a mutant very well."

Rogue nodded, and looked out the window, feeling Carol's agreement in her head.

Peg could tell she was a bit uncomfortable, so she changed the subject. "Rogue, if you have anything in particular you'd like to do while you're here, just let us know. We've got a few things planned, but feel free to mention anything and we'll try to do it."

Rogue looked back from the window and smiled. "Ah'm not really sure what all there is to do 'round here, so whatever you guys have planned will be fine."

* * *

The rest of the ride was relatively quiet, the silence broken only when Dani or her parents pointed out a building or landmark as they drove past the city of Denver.

They eventually neared Boulder, swinging slightly south of it. Rogue stared out at the mountains as they passed them – she'd spent some time in the mountains in Wyoming with her parents, years before, and a short time when she was on the road in Canada, but she was still awed by their size – not something seen often in Mississippi, and definitely larger than the mountains around New York.

They pulled off onto a side road, taking them closer to the Front Range, and then turned onto a long gravel road. The truck rumbled over a cattle guard, passing a barbed wire fence, as well as a "Private Property: Do Not Trespass" sign.

Even in the dark, Rogue could make out the large shapes of cattle on either side of their road, some still grazing, but most sleeping. They drove close to a mile further in before a large, well lit building became visible. It was a squat, two-story structure, the outside paneling making it look a bit like a log-cabin. The front had a number of large windows on either side of the door.

William pulled the truck to a stop in a large, gravel covered area next to another truck, and shut it off, pocketing the keys. The four of them got out, and William grabbed their bags from the back, throwing them over both shoulders.

Peg, who had already gone ahead, unlocked the door and pushed it open, flicking on the entry-way lights before moving to the side to let the other three enter the house.

The first four feet of the floor of the entryway was covered in a green-gray slate, and several small rugs sat to the side. William, Peg, and Dani kicked off their shoes, setting them on the rugs, and Rogue followed suit, placing her shoes next to theirs.

Rogue looked around the house, which had a warm, homey feel to it. The walls were colored a light peach color, which contrasted subtly with the darker furniture in the visible family room. Aside from the slated area on the entry, the rest of the floor was a dark hardwood, nicely polished. Several rugs lay over it in places, including a large area rug in the living room, visible under the couch as she walked in.

A large television sat in a tall television stand, and the L-shaped couch was set up so both sides had a good view of it.

Rogue smiled at Peg and William. "You have a really nice home here."

"Thanks," Peg said warmly, while William set the bags down near the base of a set of carpeted stairs that led up to the second floor.

"So this is your ranch? How much land do yah have?"

William smiled. "Yes, all of the land as we drove in is part of the ranch – all the cattle we passed are ours. Our property goes about a mile further west, and we also have a lease for some land to our south with the Bureau of Land Management, and we just rotate our cattle through different areas for grazing."

"We raise mainly Black Angus cattle here, and sell the beef. We have some milking cows, and a pretty big chicken house where we get eggs from, and we sell all of those as well. Most of it is online or through a CSA, but we also sell some at the local farmer's market." He said.

Rogue nodded, and glanced around the family room as they walked further in. Photos covered the walls, most of them being of Dani and her parents over the years, including her parents' wedding photos, but there were several of other people, whom she assumed were family and friends.

One wide photo caught her eye, and she looked closer at it. It was a black-and-white picture, and it showed a large group of soldiers, all in camouflage and wearing their helmets, posing for a picture in front of a dense jungle behind them.

"Were you in the Army?" She asked William, and he nodded, coming up next to her.

"Yeah. Vietnam. I joined in '69 when I was old enough, and they sent me to Vietnam almost right away. Stayed there for a while, but things were already starting to wind down by the next year and we started pulling out."

He tapped his finger on a young Native American man near the center of the photo. "That's me."

Rogue smiled, and then her gaze froze on the Captain of the group, whose face was quite familiar to her. "Is- is that - ?" She began, pointing to the man.

William grinned and nodded. "Yes, that's your Professor. Charles was a great Captain – we never left a man behind no matter what it took. He and I have been good friends for years – that's how we found out about the Institute for Dani."

"Wow, Ah had no idea. That's pretty neat."

Peg, who'd gone upstairs shortly after they'd entered the house, walked back down, and looked at Dani and Rogue. "You two are probably both exhausted. Let me show you your room, Rogue."

Rogue glanced at her watch and hid a yawn at the reminder – it was already almost midnight here, which meant close to two in the morning back in New York. "Goodnight, Dani," Rogue called, grabbing her bags.

She followed Peg up the stairs. The second floor was somewhat smaller – it didn't extend fully over the bottom floor with the way the roof was designed, and it was mainly bedrooms. Peg pointed out the master bedroom as well as Dani's bedroom, and then the bathroom before they reached the final door to the guest bedroom.

The room was relatively large, and didn't seem to be used much, judging from its unfurnished state. The only things in the room were a large, queen-sized bed, a lamp, a small desk, and a dresser with an old television sitting on it.

"I hope this will be alright for you," Peg said. "If you need any more blankets, there are a few in the dresser."

Rogue turned and smiled. "This'll be fine, thanks. An' thanks again for havin' me, Mrs. – sorry, Peg."

Peg nodded, and was about to turn, but paused. "Dani said something about your boyfriend and his…. daughter?... coming later this week?"

Rogue smiled at that. "Well, not technically his daughter – she an' another mutant were th'only ones that made it out of that mass-killin' in New York a few weeks back, an' he took her in. She's pretty much become his daughter now, though."

Peg's eyes widened. "Oh, Dani didn't mention that! That poor girl. If those two need a place to stay, just let me know and I'll figure something out. Our couch has a pretty comfortable pullout sleeper."

Rogue smiled. "Ah'll ask him, but Ah think he was already gettin' a hotel in town – didn' want t'impose on you an' William."

Peg nodded. "Okay. If he changes his mind, let me know. Dani said you all wanted to ski together, so we were planning on a trip for later in the week. Oh, and tomorrow we were talking about going on a hike on one of the good trails a few miles from here, if you feel up to it."

"Okay, that sounds great," Rogue said, and Peg started to back out of the room. "G'night."

Rogue sat down on the bed, pulling her duffel bag up next to her. She unzipped it, pulling out a pair of pajamas and setting them down next to her before grabbing her toothbrush and some toothpaste.

She was about to walk out to the bathroom, when she heard the door close, and the shower start to run – likely Dani beating her to it.

Rogue sighed, and let herself drop back tiredly onto the pillow. She dug sleepily in the pocket of her jeans, fishing out her cellphone. She flipped it open, and hit her speed dial before bringing the phone up to her ear.

It rang several times before she heard Remy sleepily answer it. "Hey, _Chére_, what's up? Everythin' okay?" He asked, and she could hear him fighting back a yawn.

"Yeah, Remy, sorry Ah woke yah up. Ah just got to Dani's place – figured Ah'd just give yah a quick call, let yah know we made it here alright."

"Dat's fine, Chére. You got dere late. Traffic?" Remy asked.

"No, plane problems. They took forever to get our connectin' flight workin'." Rogue said.

"Hm, dat sucks. Thanks for callin' t'let me know you're okay, _Chére_."

Rogue smiled, her eyes closing as she settled back into the bed. "Ah'm gonna go t'sleep now, Remy. Ah miss yah."

She could hear affection in his voice as he responded. "I miss y'too, Rogue. Have a good sleep."

"Yah too, Remy. Sweet dreams."

Remy chuckled. "I hope so. If they've got you in dem they should be."

Rogue smiled to herself. "G'night, you ol' charmer." She said.

"_Bonne nuit_," she heard Remy say softly as she reached up to thumb the power button.

Rogue flipped the phone shut and tossed it down in the direction her duffel, her eyes still closed as sleep began to overtake her, the soothing sound of the shower, and Remy's voice fresh in her ear helping her slip into a deep sleep.

* * *

"Remy, I'm gonna go over there an' look at all the flowers." Sarah said, pointing to a nearby long table of assorted flowers.

"Alrigh' _petite_, jus' make sure I c'n see you." Remy said, and watched her skip off to the nearest flowers, bending down to smell them.

Remy leaned down against the railing of the flatbed cart he was pushing, and glanced over to where Ororo was examining the potted trees around the lot. Two trees already rested on the bed of the cart, and Remy was sure they'd be leaving with a full cart.

They'd already spent much of the day together at the mansion, minus some time Ororo had put aside to grade the assignments she'd gotten during Friday's classes.

Ororo had taken charge of the project to improve the grounds of the mansion between now and the beginning of the next school year when they'd have a large influx of students, as well as teachers. One of her first plans was to plant a number of fast-growing trees around the grounds, mainly near the benches located across the lawn to provide shade.

Remy had talked Sarah into coming along with them to the nursery they were at – something she was a bit reluctant to do. He'd realized it was because she'd rarely gone out in public – never while she lived in the tunnels, and likely only when her mother had still been alive: he didn't think her father would have taken her out in public.

She'd seemed a little scared about the reactions of others, but when they'd entered the nursery it seemed to be quickly forgotten as she wandered among the flowering plants with them.

Ororo caught Remy's eye and he pushed the cart over to where she stood next to a tree. "Let's get four of these, Remy." She said.

He grabbed two, hefting them onto the bed of the cart, and Ororo grabbed the other two. "What are dese ones?" He asked her – the others already on the cart had been several Sycamore, which she planned to plant further out, closer to the stables, given the over seventy foot height they could attain.

Ororo shot him a smile. "This is a Royal Empress tree. They grow pretty fast, and have very beautiful purple flowers. Nice big leaves once those are gone," she said, fingering the large leaves of one – each was almost six or eight inches across.

She nodded to the next set of trees down the row. "I want four of these, as well. They're Summer Red Maples – their leaves turn a bright red in the summer, and then gold in the fall."

Remy nodded, keeping an eye on Sarah as they moved to the Maples. "I think you an' Henri would really get along," he said with a grin. "He's really gotten into gardenin' lately."

Ororo smiled. "Well, at least one of you has a green-thumb," she teased.

Remy chuckled. "I ain' de one responsible for dat, Stormy. I take care of my plants good enough, ain' my fault dey end up dying. I t'ink all plant-life jus' hates me."

Ororo rolled her eyes. "Sure, it couldn't just be that you're forgetful and never remember to water them."

"Non, dat's not it!" Remy said, grinning. "We better find de rest of your trees b'fore de ones in de cart decide to die b'cause I'm here."

Ororo shook her head, and pointed to a group of trees down the aisle where he'd been standing earlier. "I only need a few more – three or four of those."

Remy nodded, and started to turn the cart around to follow her. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sarah start to back away from some snapdragons, when a man - easily in his late thirties - walking side-by-side with a young woman and looking the other way, ran into Sarah.

Sarah stumbled forward, catching herself on the table, and the man tripped over her, stumbling against the woman he was walking with.

Sarah pushed herself away from the table, and turned around. "S-sorry," She said quietly, but loud enough that Remy could hear from where he stood.

The man just shot her a disgusted look. "Watch where you're going," he said with a snarl, turning away.

Remy's eyes narrowed when the man grabbed the hand of the woman he was with, and looked over to her as they began to move past Sarah. "Stupid gene-jokes. If their parents want to take them out in public they could at least try to cover it up so we don't have to see them."

"Be right back, Stormy," Remy said tightly when he saw the stricken look on Sarah's face at the man's loud comment, and he released his hold on the cart. He was standing in front of the man in mere moments.

"Dere a problem here?" Remy asked, his arms crossed in front of him. He was nearly a foot taller than him, and outmassed him by quite a bit, and the man backed up a step at the intimidating sight in front of him.

"No, why?" The man said gruffly.

Remy shot him a mock-quizzical look. "Well dat's funny, 'cuz I could have _sworn_ I heard you makin' some bigoted comments 'bout my kid right in front of her, an' I don' much 'preciate it when people do that. So why don' you run 'long off to whatever hate-group y'belong to, an' get off your memories of insultin' little girls or whatever it is you do dere. Hein?"

Remy tipped his sunglasses down, and both of them paled and shrank back when they saw the glow of his red-on-black eyes peek out over the glasses.

"A-alright - I don't want any trouble," the man said, and grabbed the woman's arm and began to skirt past Remy, as close to the edge of the aisle as they could get.

"Dat's good, 'cuz you wouldn' want t'see me when I'm angry." Remy shot back as they hurried away from him.

His gaze followed them until they were out of sight, and then he turned to Sarah. "You alright, _petite_?"

Sarah forced a small smile onto her face, and nodded. "Yeah."

He looked at her with a doubtful expression, and stepped forward, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You sure?"

Sarah nodded quietly, avoiding his gaze. He was about to let it go, when she raised her face to look up at him. "Why does everyone hate us, Remy? We don't do anything to them." She said softly.

Remy shot her a sad smile. "It ain' everyone, _petite_. Dere's some decent people out dere dat don' care 'bout us bein' mutants. De ones dat do, like dat assh– sorry, _jerk_ back dere are scared of us – scared of what we can do, what we look like. An' sometimes people hate things dey're scared of, an' things dey don' understand. Lots of dem turn to things like de Bible an' try to rip out verses to support dem, even if it doesn' – dey want some sorta approval to reinforce their fear an' hatred. There'll always be people like dat around. Jus' happens dat right now dere's a lot of dem, but eventually dat'll change."

Sarah frowned, and nodded slightly. "So it's like how some people still don't like black people?"

Remy nodded, a slight smile coming to his face at how quick she'd understood. "'zactly, _petite_. Some day it'll eventually be only a few that hate us, but things like dat take a while."

He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "De only thing we can do is not let dem bother us. In fact, we should feel a little sorry for dem."

Sarah smiled slightly, and Remy heard a cart moving up behind him. He glanced back to see Ororo, who flashed him a smile. He glanced at the cart and saw she'd gotten the rest of the trees she'd wanted.

"You got everythin' now, Stormy?" Remy asked.

"This should be it."

"Storm?" Sarah asked. "Could we get some flowers too?"

Ororo smiled. "Well, I guess a few flowers couldn't hurt. Several of my bulbs didn't sprout in the front of the mansion, and I think they might be dead. We can get some as long as you help me plant them," Ororo said.

Ororo smiled at the eager look that appeared on Sarah's face at that. "Which flowers did you have in mind?" Ororo asked her, and Sarah grabbed her hand and she soon found herself being pulled along the aisle to the plants that had caught Sarah's eye.

They ended up with the rest of the cart being filled with several colorful varieties of Daylilies and Coneflowers, and the three of them pushed the cart toward the two check-out lanes.

A woman easily in her early sixties stood at the only open register, and Remy pushed the cart up alongside the register.

"Hi, did you find everything alright?" The woman asked, smiling at the three of them.

Ororo nodded. "Yes, we found everything we wanted."

The woman nodded, and grabbed a handheld barcode scanner, and knelt next to the cart and began to scan each item.

As she finished scanning the last few potted flowers, she glanced up at them again, and smiled at Sarah. "That's a very cute outfit," she said. "My granddaughter has one that looks just like that."

Sarah blushed, and smiled slightly. "T-thanks, ma'am."

"You're welcome." The woman said with a smile. She set down the scanner and pressed a button on the register, and the display popped up the price.

Remy began to reach for his wallet, but Ororo was already handing the woman a credit card. She flashed a smile to Remy. "This is all for the school so I'll take care of it with the school account."

Remy nodded, and stood to the side so Ororo could sign the receipt. The woman smiled at all of them. "Thank you. You three have a great day."

Remy gave her a slight nod and a smile. "You too, ma'am."

Outside, Remy pushed the cart up to the pickup truck they'd taken from the Institute's garage, and lowered the tailgate. They started loading the trees in, and across the parking lot, Remy caught a glimpse of the man from earlier, who quickly ducked out of sight into his car, and took off as soon as he could get it in gear, and Remy smirked to himself as he lifted the last tree into the bed of the pickup.

* * *

"You doin' alright, _petite_?" Remy asked from the open door of her room.

Sarah looked up from the homework she was doing – he'd convinced her to finish all of her work early before they went to Colorado so she wouldn't have to work on it then – and looked over at Remy.

"Yeah, Remy." Sarah said.

He walked further into the room and sat down on the edge of the bed next to her. "Whatcha workin' on?"

Sarah crinkled her nose. "English. We have to go through sentences and figure out how to class'fy the words, like nouns an' pronouns an' adjectives. It's alright, but it's boring."

Remy smiled. "Yeah, I remember from when I was in school."

Sarah looked up. "When was that? Like thirty years ago?" She asked.

"What?! No, it was…." He trailed off when he glanced over and saw her trying to hide a smile.

"You little rat," Remy said, reaching out to tickle her mercilessly in the sides.

Sarah dropped her pencil, giggling, and tried to squirm away from him. "N-no, stop Remy! I didn't mean it," she managed to gasp out between laughs.

Remy finally relented, smirking at her. "Dat's what happens when you're a little troublemaker," he said, leaning forward to kiss her forehead.

As Sarah caught her breath she slumped down against Remy. She looked up at him with mock disapproval. "That wasn't very nice, Remy."

He slung his arm over her shoulder. "Neither was tellin' me I'm over thirty years old."

"I was just teasin'. You don't hafta tickle me to death." She said, snuggling her head against his shoulder.

Remy smiled, and his gaze turned to the still-open English book. "You need any help wit' your homework, Sarah?"

Sarah shook her head. "I'm okay right now."

Remy nodded. "Alrigh', but you let me know if y'need any help, _hein_?"

Sarah smiled. "Okay. Could you look it over when I'm done an' make sure I did it right?"

"_Oui_."

They sat like that for several contented minutes before Remy decided to bring up what he'd come up there to ask her.

"_Petite_, I wanted t'ask you somethin'. We need t'get you a passport b'fore we fly out to Denver. I got a friend in New York we're gonna go see tomorrow t'get y'picture taken, an' he needs some info t'get started makin' one for you."

Sarah shrugged. "Okay, Remy. What does he need?"

"Well, I already tol' him your birthday," Remy said – he'd asked her that weeks ago when they'd been staying at Henri's, and he'd not mentioned it to her, but it had been the day before the Tunnel Massacre – being down there she hadn't kept track of the dates.

"What I need t'know is what your last name was, _petite_."

Sarah's expression changed, and her eyes dropped to her lap. "It was Rushman." She said softly. "But I don't want it to be anymore."

Remy's expression softened. "It won' be, _petite_. He jus' needed it t'figure out some stuff for your passport. Yours is gonna be Sarah Lord."

Sarah's eyes widened in comprehension. "Your friend makes your fake stuff for you?"

Remy nodded – she'd spotted one of his fakes in Henri's house when he'd forgotten to put it away, and when she asked him about it he'd told her about what he'd once done for a living and why he needed fakes like that.

"Yeah, _petite_, he's de one dat makes 'em for me, an' he's gonna make one for you. Otherwise we'd hafta wait months gettin' dem de real way."

Sarah nodded in understanding. "As long as I'm not Sarah Rushman anymore. My mommy kept her old name when she got married, an' I don't wanna have _his_ name anymore."

Remy tucked a hand under her chin, raising her eyes to his. "Y'won', _petite_. Never."

Sarah smiled and kissed him on the cheek, and he pulled her closer into a hug.

"Now, de other thing I came up here for is to see how much of y'homework you got done."

Sarah gestured to her open English book, and a Math book sitting at the end of the bed. "I just hafta finish up English an' then do my math an' I'm all done."

Remy nodded. "Well, dat shouldn' take too long, an we still got three days 'till we fly out. I was askin' b'cause I figured you might want a break, an' Stormy wanted t'know if you wanted to help plant de trees an' flowers wit' her tomorrow."

Sarah's face lit up, and she nodded rapidly. "I do. Are you gonna help us too?"

Remy smiled and nodded. "Yeah. Let's wake up early t'morrow an' get t'ings done by de afternoon, so you an' I can go to New York an' get you dat passport, _hein_?"

Sarah nodded, and Remy pulled back, standing from the bed. "Alright, _petite_. You finish y'English tonight. I gotta go call Dan 'bout y'passport."

By the time he'd exited the room, her nose was buried firmly amongst the pages of the book, her pencil tapping thoughtfully against her chin as she started the next problem.

He smiled fondly, and quietly closed the door, slipping his cellphone from his pocket, walking to his own room. _'Rushman_,' he thought to himself as he flipped open the cell. '_Just might have to pay a certain Rushman a visit sometime in the future._' He thought darkly as he dialed Dan's number.

* * *

"So is this where yah usually shop?" Rogue asked, looking around the large King Soopers grocery store as they entered. Back in Meridian, the only grocery store in town, other than the Wal-Mart, was easily a third if not a quarter the size of this store.

Dani nodded, grabbing the handle of a cart and pulling it away from the others. "We never really need any meat other than pork, with the ranch and all, but this is where we get cereal and fruits and veggies and stuff like that."

Rogue nodded absently, her eyes running over the large produce section.

It was already Monday, and Peg and William were back at the ranch with several hired men, herding the cattle to their spring and summer fields further up toward the foothills. Dani had driven them her mother's pick-up truck to get some groceries for the next few days before they headed west to Arapahoe Basin for several days of skiing.

They'd spent Saturday hiking on a local trail to the south of their property. Rogue had been surprised at the lack of altitude problems she had, unlike the previous time she'd been in Wyoming with her parents. She wasn't out of breath, and seemed to be just as adjusted as Peg and William who lived there all the time.

She and Carol guessed it had to do with her powers – Carol remembered how easy everything had been when she'd first gotten them, her endurance had increased greatly. Rogue guessed that the easy adjustment might also have to do with her ability to fly, her powers automatically adjusting as she gained altitude.

Perhaps when she got back to the Institute she'd start experimenting on the limits of her flight powers, Rogue thought to herself as Dani led her through the store.

They picked up lettuce and other ingredients for salads, and a bag of potatoes that Peg wanted to cook with dinner later that night. They moved on, grabbing a loaf of bread, and passing the meat aisles, and were headed toward the cereal aisle when Dani stopped in her tracks, Rogue nearly running into her at the sudden stop.

Dani started turning the cart down the aisle closest to them, when a voice came from ahead of them.

"Well, well, look who's decided to show her face back in town," a short young man, no older than Dani or Rogue, said.

Dani closed her eyes in resignation and muttered a soft curse as the young blond-haired man, accompanied with three others close in age, approached them.

He crossed his arms, glaring at Dani as she slowly turned to face him. "What makes you think you're welcome around here, Moonstar? Get lost – we don't want you contaminating our city."

"Pat," Dani said, her voice sounding strained, "please, don't start this again. I've apologized to you _so_ many times for what happened. What more can I do?"

"You can get out of town, and never show your face here again. Your apologies don't mean anything after what you did with your freakish powers." He sneered in Rogue's direction. "Bringing more muties to town with you, too?"

He stepped forward, uncomfortably close, and reached out a hand to shove Rogue's shoulder back. "Are you a mutie too-"

He broke off in a gasp as Rogue's hand shot up and grabbed his wrist, slowly squeezing tighter and tighter until she could feel the bones start to grind together, and he gasped out in pain. "Yeah, Ah am a 'mutie'. Now, didn' your Ma ever teach yah to keep y'hands to yourself?" Rogue said calmly.

"Shit, lady, let go!" Pat managed.

Rogue released her grip and shoved him back into his friends. "Get lost." She said.

He cradled his injured hand, and looked back at his companions. "Bitch is freakin' crazy. Let's get out of here."

He shot them one last glare before he and his friends left, moving down another aisle out of sight from them.

Rogue glanced over to Dani who was looking over in the direction he'd left with a sad expression. "You alright, Dani?" Rogue asked quietly.

Dani nodded. "Yeah, thanks. I just… that's the only thing I hate about coming back home, is the chance of running into him like that."

"What was that all about?" Rogue asked, and then bit her lip. "Y'don' hafta tell me, Ah-"

Dani shook her head. "No, that's fine. Believe it or not, Pat and I used to be friends, all the way through our second year of high school."

Rogue looked at her with surprise. "Really? What happened?"

"I happened. I was visiting his house – his parents had invited me over for dinner." Dani paused for a moment. "They're like these uber-Evangelical Christians, y'know, _really_ right wing. Everyone used to joke they'd moved to the wrong place – should've been down in Colorado Springs with James Dobson and his whole 'Focus on the Family' thing instead of such a left-wing place like Boulder."

"My powers…. Went out of control while I was there – it was the second time: the first time, when I realized I was a mutant, was while I was at home. Anyway, no one – not even me – knew Pat is… well, he's gay, I guess. His greatest fear was being outed to his parents with their beliefs and all that."

Dani looked down at her hands, which gripped the handle of the cart tighter before she continued. "We were arguing over something stupid, and my powers reacted, and pulled that fear out of his mind and projected it right there in front of his entire family." She shook her head, clearly fighting back tears. "He's never forgiven me for it, and he's hated me ever since."

Rogue placed a comforting arm around her shoulder, and spoke softly to her. "Don' let him get yah down, Dani. Some people jus' hold onto grudges an' things that happened, an' won' let go of them no matter how much yah try t'make it up to them."

"I know, Rogue, I shouldn't let it bother me – it's his choice, and I guess I see now the person he really was deep down, but we were good friends, and then my powers ruined it. It's the reason I always try to avoid using them, even with the Professor helping me get better control of them."

She reached up and wiped away a lone tear, and smiled slightly to Rogue. "Remy's been after me to try using them in training sessions," she said. "But this is why I've been trying to avoid it. I don't want to lose control and… do the same thing to one of you."

Rogue smiled fondly. "That sounds like somethin' he'd get worried about. If y'want, Ah can talk t'him, tell him not t'pressure you on it."

Dani took a deep breath, finally calming down after the confrontation, and shook her head. "No, really, it's fine. He's right that I should start using them, it's just getting over that fear – it's tough."

Rogue nodded. "Ah know what that's like. When Remy an' Ah started workin on mah powers, Ah had a hard time mentally breakin' mah instinct of pullin' away right away when Ah touched him. He hadta grab mah hand t'keep me touchin' him the first few times."

Rogue grabbed the box of cereal they'd come to the aisle to pick up, and glanced over again to Dani. "Yah can try just practicin' with me b'fore you try something in one of our training sessions if y'want. Ah'm pretty sure we both have an' idea what mah fears are." She said, absently rubbing her gloved hand against her arm.

Dani's expression brightened. "Really? That'd be great."

Rogue smiled, nodding. "Of course, Dani."

Dani grinned and placed a hand on Rogue's arm. "Thanks."

Dani glanced at her watch. "C'mon, Mom's probably wondering what's taking us so long. Let's go check out – hopefully you scared off Pat and his buddies and we won't run into them," she said, pushing the cart back to the front of the store.

* * *

"Any clue what dis is 'bout?" Remy asked Logan while absently playing with a deck of cards.

They were sitting in the "War Room", having been called there by Xavier. Remy thought it a bit unusual, given he, Logan, Ororo, and Bobby were the only X-men at the mansion, and about to be one less, as he and Sarah were going to leave the next day. Hank was back at his place in DC, packing up the last of his things for the move to the mansion

"Nope." Logan said, leaning back in his chair. "Not a clue."

The door to the room slid open at that moment, and Xavier entered, followed by Kurt.

Remy nodded in greeting to the blue-furred man he'd met only once during his time at the mansion.

"Kurt," Ororo said, smiling. "You're back! It's been quite a while."

Kurt smiled back, sitting down at one of the open seats as Xavier moved to the head of the table. "Far too long," he said. "But I think I am back for at least a vhile." He said, looking at Xavier.

Charles smiled and nodded. "Kurt has been visiting with mutants who I would like to hire for the next school year for teaching positions. He's also been traveling around the world, contacting families of mutants I think could use the help we provide here at the Institute. Right now, I think we've gotten into contact with everyone we can."

His expression became more serious. "He's also been in contact with a… a _source_ of information I have, and that's why I've called you here," he said, noticeably pausing to word the sentence carefully.

"My source is in a position that receives a lot of information, especially from some less-than reputable sources. One of those has given us information on one of the bases used by the Purifiers. It is my hope that we can raid the base and try to find something linking them to Creed."

"While I would normally hesitate against taking such a drastic action, my source is under the impression that aside from information at this location, the Purifiers may be keeping mutants captive there. We're unsure why they are, but given the nature of their organization, I'd hazard a guess that there are no good motives behind them doing so."

Charles tapped some controls at the base of the desk, and in the center, a 3-D hologram, similar to those of the Danger Room, was projected out, coalescing into an image of a building over ten stories tall.

"This is the building, it's located nearby – about seventy miles east of here in a rural area. I'd like it to be as quiet as possible – knock out the guards, release any mutants, and get any information you can find about their links to Creed. No big fights, nothing unnecessary."

He looked over in Remy's direction. "Gambit, you're probably the most experienced person here with something like this. I'd like you to lead the team this time, if that's alright with you, Ororo."

Ororo nodded. "It's fine."

Remy leaned closer to the plans, chewing his lower lip for a few moments.

"I'd like to do this today, because I know you were going to leave tomorrow for the rest of break, Gambit."

Remy nodded absently. "Jus' gonna be de four of us?"

"Five. I'd like to come as vell," Kurt said.

Remy nodded, and then looked up at Xavier. "Dis all we've got?"

Xavier pressed another button, and a set of blueprints appeared in the place of the previous image. "Just these – blueprints filed when they built the place. They're working under a dummy corporation that's supposedly a travel agency."

Remy sighed. "Alrigh'. Give me an hour t'get a plan t'gether. I can't promise dis'll be real quiet or anythin', but I'll do my best. Usually I'd be spendin' a month or two casin' de place, figurin' out guard rotations, things like dat. So dis one could get a bit messy."

"I'd like that as well, but for all we know, they could be gone in a month, or find out about their leak and secure the place. Just do your best." Xavier said.

"Alrigh', Remy said absently, but he was already engrossed in the blueprints, his thieves' mind committing every detail to memory while also analyzing them, finding escape routes, places that likely would be unguarded, places where security cameras would probably be placed, and the most likely place to deactivate them for the raid.

* * *

"I still don' like dis," Remy muttered to Logan, who was crouched next to him on the rooftop three hours after the meeting. Behind them, the cloaked X-jet sat on the roof of the Purifier's building.

Ororo remained inside, ready to take off at a moment's notice, and Bobby and Kurt stood behind them as Remy dug through a dizzying array of wires on a panel he'd pried open.

"Doesn' hafta be perfect, Cajun." Logan said. "Your plan's good, we just have to hope we don't run into any big surprises."

Remy grunted and pulled out a tiny voltmeter, reading the charge on the wires. He pulled up wires of a larger device he'd cobbled together on the flight over using spare parts from the hangar. He clamped the wires onto particular wires in the control panel, and then snipped them below the shunts.

"Dere. Dis thing has enough power to last for thirty minutes, an' keep foolin' de security system to think it's still receivin' its signal."

"Now, we jus' need to get to de control center an' take out de people dere so we don' hafta worry 'bout de cameras."

Remy had identified one room with a large amount of wiring and fortification on the blueprints that he believed was likely the control room of the building where everything was managed.

"Alrigh', you all know your jobs, let's get dem done." Remy said.

He watched the three of them move to the doorway on the roof that led to stairs below. They were moving to the control room to first take out the guards. Kurt and Bobby would then move around the base, disabling any equipment they could find, doing everything possible to cripple the installation, while Logan downloaded as much information as he could from the computers.

Remy had the hardest job – searching the base for any sign of the rumored mutants. He shook his head, and took a deep breath he always took before starting a job, and then moved to a ventilation shaft where he pried the hatch open.

While air ducts in all but the largest buildings were much too small to crawl around like you saw in the movies, the ventilation shafts that fed them their air were much larger – large enough for him to squeeze easily into.

He slid in, bracing his shoulders against one side and his knees against the other, and slowly let himself slide down, when he needed to sop he merely pressed against both sides.

He slid down, the progress slow, but eventually reached the very bottom where it opened up in the upper basement floor.

Remy quietly charged the screws holding the covering in place, and caught it as it fell, setting it down on the floor without a sound. He crawled out cautiously, looking around.

He froze as a man walked swiftly past the small side hallway where Remy had emerged, but the man didn't even spare a glance down the maintenance hall.

During the two seconds he was in sight, Remy sized him up, noting a lack of military discipline, or any sort of discipline, and a white lab coat covering him. No sign of weapons, and every sign this guy wasn't one of the guards of the facility.

Remy moved cautiously forward, pulling a handheld mirror from a pocket of his trenchcoat. He crouched near the edge of his hall, and poked the mirror out around both corners. He saw nothing other than the man, so he made his way out into the main hall, following the man silently.

He eventually entered a large lab room, and Remy crouched near the doorway, using his mirror to peek around the corner once again to se what he was doing.

The man moved over to a table that had something on it, covered by a sheet. The man pulled back the sheet, and Remy could see the form of a person, obviously dead, on the table as the man hovered over it.

"Damn it," the man muttered. "Why isn't it working? We're gonna need more muties if I keep going through them like this."

Remy's eyes hardened, and then his earpiece clicked on, Logan's voice sounding over it quietly.

"Cajun, we've got problems. Here were a lot more people than we thought, and they locked themselves in the control center for minute before we could get in. We took them down, but they got a warning out, and we've got more on the way up."

"They also shot up the computer system. I'll try to get anything I can, but I think most of it is shot to hell. Bobby and Kurt are moving to do their job, I'll stay here and get what I can and hold off the guards."

Remy tapped a small transmitter button on the earpiece twice, sending two clicks to confirm he'd heard.

The radio that sat on the man's belt suddenly squawked to life, the person speaking over the radio warning about intruders attacking the base.

"Damn," the man said, straightening from the corpse. "If they're after the specimens…." He turned and started running for the doorway.

As he ran out, Remy's bo staff swept up, clotheslining the man, knocking him out instantly.

Remy swiftly entered the room, his gaze moving to the form on the table. It was a young mutant, no older than he was, with clear animal features. Overall he looked like a mix between a normal human and a bear. His eyes were open in death, milky white and lifeless, and his chest had been clearly cut open and then stitched back shut while he was still alive.

Remy reached out, closing the man's eyes, and slid the blanket back over him, not even wanting to know what they'd been doing to him, and from what the man had said, other mutants.

Remy glanced around the room which was relatively empty, save for a large amount of medical equipment. He turned to leave the room, delivering a sharp, deliberate kick to the side of the man's head as he began to stir, knocking him out once more.

Remy replayed the details of the blueprints in his head, and dashed down the hall toward the stairs, checking any room he passed. They'd keep the mutants as close to the lab as possible, Remy surmised – less space and time for them to be able to break free as they were being moved.

Remy moved down the stairs, and came upon a man guarding a room with a large, closed door. He startled the man with his sudden entrance, and used the element of surprise to leap on him, his arm going around the man's throat in a choke hold, placing pressure on the blood vessels that carried oxygen to his brain, until the man passed out.

Remy patted down the man, grabbing the gun from its holster and tossing it out of sight, and then grabbed a keychain from the man's pocket. He put one of the keys in the keyhole of the large metal door, and turned it, unlocking it.

He swung the door open, and entered a large, circular room. The walls of the room were lined with what amounted to prison cells, with barred doors on each cell. Most were empty, and the one directly in front of him contained a mutant that looked like he had been through what the man upstairs had been through, blood covering the floor of his cell, clearly dead.

Two cells, fortunately, were occupied by two mutants that looked relatively unharmed. The cell to his right contained a tall, young, African-American boy clad only in a pair of jeans, with grayish, metallic-looking lines tattooed in intricate patterns along his body, even onto the top of his head, which was completely hairless.

The occupant of the other cell was a young woman - no older than Rogue as far as he could tell - with brilliant green hair, sitting on a small cot, her knees pulled up to her chest.

He pulled out the ring of keys, and found one that looked about the shape of the lock on the cells, and turned it in the woman's cell, opening the door. She didn't look up, and Remy could now see her arms were covered with bruises, and a large bruise was visible on her left cheek in the shape of a handprint.

"Hey, _femme_?" He said softly, reaching out to touch her shoulder.

She tensed as he neared, and the moment he touched her she sprang forward, swinging wildly with her fists.

"No!" She shouted into his face as one fist connected with his stomach – he was grateful he'd worn his body armor for the mission as it took the blow. "You're not going to do it to me, too," she growled, her green eyes wild as she struggled to get past him.

"Hey, hey!" Remy said, grabbing her flailing arms, holding her wrists and pressing her against the wall. He turned to the side, so as not to leave himself open to any below the belt blows she might throw at him.

He switched hands, gripping both of her thin wrists with one hand. He reached up and tipped his sunglasses down, looking into her eyes. "Calm down, _femme_. I ain' here t'hurt you. I'm a mutant too. Me an' some friends are here t'rescue you."

She started at him without comprehension for several moments, and then her struggles died down. "R-rescue?" She asked, her eyes showing her confusion, but the sight of his eyes seemed to register with her, making her realize he was a fellow mutant.

Remy smiled gently at her. "Yeah, long as y'don' keep tryin' to beat de crap outta me."

She relaxed finally, and he let go of her wrists. She sagged forward against him, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Thank you, thank you," she whispered. "The others – they've done _things_ to them. They took them away and when they came back they were like zombies. They cut them, and I don't know what else."

Remy rubbed her back, nodding. "I know. I saw one of dem wit' a dead mutant. Whatever they've been doin' here, y'don' hafta worry anymore – we're takin' down dis place."

She pulled back slightly, swiping at the tears on her face. She gestured to her wrist, which had a metal cuff-like device on it. "Can you get this off? They use this to stop our powers, Mr…."

She trailed off, realizing she had no clue who he even was.

"LeBeau. Remy LeBeau." Remy said, reaching into his pocket for the key ring. He pulled her wrist closer and began trying different keys on the lock that held it on her wrist. "What's your name?"

"Lorna Dane," she said softly as he tried another key. This one turned, and the power restraint snapped open and fell off her wrist and onto the floor.

She slowly pulled her hand back, rubbing at her wrist – the scraped skin clearly showing the attempts she had made to get the device off.

Remy smiled. "Well, Lorna, let's help dis guy out of his cell," he said, gesturing at the man who watched them quietly, "an' den we'll get you out of here."

Lorna nodded, and followed Remy over to the other cell where Remy cycled through several keys to find the correct one.

"Hey, _mon frère_, you hear what's goin' on? I'm here t'get you two out."

He nodded back to Remy.

"Alrigh', what's y'name, _homme_?" Remy asked, finding the correct key.

"Nezhno Abidemi," he said in a low, deep voice that suited him well.

"Alrigh', Nezhno, gimme y'hand, let me get dat thing offa you."

As Remy undid the cuff, he heard the click of a safety on a gun, and Lorna's gasp. He started to spin when he heard the loud retort of the gun, and he braced himself for the impact of the shot that he was pretty certain had been aimed at him.

It never came, and his eyes widened when he saw the bullet hovering in mid air, and saw Lorna's hand stretched out toward it.

The man who'd shot fired again, and again the bullet froze in midair. Suddenly both bullets dropped to the floor with a clatter, and Lorna clenched her fist. The gun flew from the man's hand, arced around the room almost to Lorna, and then curved back, slamming with a sickening crack into the man's face.

The man dropped like a rock, falling back unconscious. The gun raised above him again, and for a moment, it seemed Lorna was struggling, deciding whether or not to hit him again. Finally she unclenched her fists, and the gun clattered to the floor.

Remy smiled gratefully at her. "Thanks. Dat was a close one. You a telekinetic?"

Lorna shook her head. "No, I can control metal."

Remy nodded, and looked behind him to Nezhno. "Alrigh'. You two ready t'get de hell outta here?"

They nodded, and he moved toward the door, looking cautiously into the hallway. "Alrigh', it's clear. Stick wit' me, an' move when I move. We have to get to the top floor – too dangerous t'get a pick up on ground level."

Lorna nodded, and the next moment he was moving out the door with the two of them trailing close behind.

"This way!" Remy yelled over the roar of firing weapons.

The two mutants followed closely as he led them through several twisting narrow passageways found when he memorized the blueprints of the facility.

After one turn he let his companions run past him, and then tossed a charged deck of cards back the way they had come to collapse the ceiling of the passageway, blocking off their pursuers, and forcing them to find another way to them.

"You almost done, Logan?" Remy asked into his slim earpiece.

A moment later, as Remy began to lead again, Logan's voice crackled over the speakers. "Just finished, Cajun. The rest of the guards won't be a problem, an' I just cleaned out the control room. Already headin' out to the jet. Where are you?"

"Ran into a few problems an' got hung up. Should be up dere in two minutes. Iceboy?"

Bobby's voice came over the earpiece. "I've iced up everything I could, I'm already back at the jet."

"Good. Kurt, I need your help – I picked up a few mutants de creeps were keepin' locked up. Get dem to de jet while I blow dis place."

"I am on my way," Kurt responded.

A minute later, Kurt slid to a stop in front of them as they charged up a set of stairs.

Remy glanced to his two companions. "Don' worry, he's wit' me. Follow him an' we'll get you outta here. I'll be right behind you."

"This way," Kurt said, and they hesitantly followed him.

Remy moved back down the flight of stairs, and pulled off a glove and slapped his full bare hand against the wall. He gritted his teeth, and slowly a magenta glow began pulsing out along the wall, and then to the floor, moving along the hallway.

Nearly a minute later, Remy pulled his hand away, gasping from the exertion of such a large charge. He gritted his teeth.

"Pick me up – big picture window, south side, third floor down." He said, his gaze sweeping to the large window of the multistoried complex. He'd mentally delayed the charge, giving himself just over a minute before it blew.

"Already moving," Ororo said over his earpiece, and he heard the muted roar of the X-Jet's engines.

A moment later it grew louder and she spoke again. "Just a few seconds."

The plane lowered, hovering in place with it's ramp open, in front of the window, and there was a sudden *Bamf*, and Kurt appeared next to him and grabbed his arm. Remy felt a squeezing sensation across his entire body, followed by a sense of complete vertigo, and found himself on the metal decking of the Jet, the smell of sulfur filling the air.

"Get us out of here, Stormy. Dere's gonna be a nice big boom in half a minute." He gritted out, climbing to his feet and trying to shake the vertigo as the ramp closed.

He grabbed the back of the nearest headrest, and pulled himself forward against the sudden thrust as Ororo coaxed the engines, making his way up to drop into the copilot's seat.

Remy punched a button on the console, and a plasma display turned on, displaying the composite view from a number of rear-facing cameras embedded in the hull of the Jet. He watched, still mentally counting down as they started to climb.

"Three, two, one," Remy muttered to himself before the sky behind them lit up as the upper stories of the facility exploded in a brilliant flash.

He started to turn to grin at Ororo when the camera refocused, and he glimpsed someone running out of the bottom floor of the building, stopping a few dozen feet away.

Remy started to punch up the magnification of the image, and it resolved itself showing a man with a long tube on his shoulder. The back flashed, and something shot out of the front at high speed.

"Shit! Punch it Stormy, de nutjobs jus' launched a missile at us!" Remy said, reaching over to yank on the throttle before Ororo could even react, and everyone was pressed back into their seats by the increase in speed.

A moment later, the main LCD began to ping, and showed a single missile following them, and quickly gaining ground.

'Could I **ever** have a job go off without a hitch?' He wondered to himself.

"You got flares, Stormy? Now would be a good time t'use it if you do." Remy said.

Ororo nodded, her face tense, her hands gripping the controls tightly. "Third button from the right, second row down."

"Got it," Remy said, his eyes scanning down the controls to the button she'd indicated, and pressed it, waited several seconds, and pressed it again.

On the screen, it showed two blazing white flares pop out from the X-Jet, shooting off in front of the incoming missile. Remy held his breath for a second, and then the missile blew past the decoys, and he cursed under his breath.

"Damnit, dey must be using one of de laser-guided ones. All de flares in de world ain' gonna draw it away if de guy on de ground can still see us."

The incessant beeping grew louder as the missile neared, and Remy exchanged glances with Ororo, and her look gave him all he needed to know: the only way they were getting out of this was to outrun the missile until it ran out of fuel, and they weren't up to nearly the speed needed to do so.

Remy racked his brain, and suddenly his eyes lit up, and he whipped off his restraint harnesses so he could turn to look at the back of the jet.

"Lorna! You think you can handle a missile de same way?" He asked.

She unbuckled her own restraint and unsteadily moved up to the front of the plane. She bit her lip, seeing the approaching missile on the video screen.

"I'll try," she said softly, biting her lip nervously. She closed her eyes, stretching her hands out to rest on Remy and Ororo's headrests, and her brow furrowed as she stretched her mind out across the magnetic fields until she found the piece of metal she was looking for.

Her fingers clenched on the headrests, her knuckles turning white from the grip, and on the screen Remy could see the missile begin to wobble.

Slowly, getting closer every second, the wobbling became a jerking movement from side to side, and suddenly the missile exploded in a fireball, close enough that the blast wave caused slight turbulence for the Jet.

Remy let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding, and turned in the seat to look up at Lorna. A line of blood trailed down from her nose, and her already light complexion had paled even further.

"Did I do it?" She asked, her arms trembling.

"Y'did it," Remy said, standing and grabbing one of her arms. "Let's get y'back to your seat."

He had to support her most of the way as he helped her to the seat – next to Nezhno – and then he found a tissue in one of the compartments in the back of the plane and handed it to her. She blotted up the blood on her upper lip, and then pushed the tissue firmly against her nose, trying to get the bleed to clot.

"Sorry," she said, looking up to him. "This always happens when I try something as big as that. Little stuff I can handle, but the bigger it gets the harder it is."

Remy shot her a comforting smile. "S'alright, Lorna. You jus' saved all our asses. Y'gonna be alright?"

"Yeah. It just takes a while to stop bleeding. I'll be fine."

Remy nodded, and handed her a clean tissue, which she switched out, and then he moved back to the front of the Jet to sink into his seat once again.

Everyone seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief when no more pings sounded, and they were no longer in sight of the facility.

Kurt shook his head, and looked over to Logan. "_Mein Gott_, vhat is it with you people and missiles?"

Logan chuckled. "Elf, stay with the X-men long enough, go on enough missions with us, an' you'll find missiles are the least of your worries."

Remy smiled over to Ororo at that, and she rolled her eyes back at him. "Stormy," Remy said as he leaned back against the headrest, "let's punch it. If I'm back late, Sarah'll have my hide," he murmured as he closed his eyes and let himself come down from the adrenaline high that had kept him going during the operation.

* * *

_**A/N:**__ Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter – lot's of character interaction, and the first strike in the "war" against the Purifiers, along with the introduction of two new characters (most will likely know Lorna, and for those who haven't read any of the recent comics, Nezhno is a mutant known as 'Gentle')._

_Next chap, plenty of Romy, we get to see Kitty and Piotr's vacations, and some of the findings from the mission are revealed. See you all next time (and thanks for all the reviews last chap)!_


	22. Chapter 22: Vacation: Part Two

_**Disclaimer: X-Men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-Men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway ;)**_

_A/N: Thanks for all your reviews back last chapter. Here's the new chap – lots of fun scenes from the next few days of their Break._

**Chapter 22: Vacation – Part Two**

* * *

"Did you get hurt this time?" Sarah mumbled into Remy's neck. She'd been waiting at the door of the hangar, and had raced over to them as the ramp of the Jet opened.

"_Non_, _petite_. Not even a scratch." Remy said, grinning.

She looked him over with a dubious expression, and then smiled happily when she didn't see any visible injuries. "Good."

Remy kissed her cheek, and then set her down next to him. She grabbed his hand, and watched as the others filed down the ramp. At the back were the two mutants they'd found at the compound.

Lorna's eyes lit up as she exited and she looked around the hangar and her eyes fell on Remy. She moved over toward him, and he noted her complexion seemed to have returned to normal, no longer as pale as it had been on the jet.

"I-I didn't see a trash can, and I wasn't sure what to do with these," she said, holding up the wadded tissues he'd given her to stem the flow of blood from her nose.

Remy smiled. "Here," he said, taking it from her fingers.

His ungloved fingers touched the tissues, and they began to glow magenta, and a moment later the tissues disappeared in a puff of dust, and a soft pop.

One of Lorna's green eyebrows rose at that, and then her eye was drawn to where Sarah had moved back, mostly behind Remy, at her approach. She waved slightly to Sarah and smiled at her.

"Hi there," Lorna said. "I'm Lorna – what's your name?"

"I'm Sarah," she replied, looking curiously at the woman. "Is that your real hair color?" She asked.

Lorna chuckled. "Yeah, it's always been this color."

Sarah smiled, and moved out from behind Remy more, her eyes on Lorna's face. "Are you hurt?" She asked.

Lorna's hand rose unconsciously to the large bruise on her face, and then forced a smile. "Not much. Remy and your other friends saved us before they could do anything to us."

Sarah suddenly shrank back behind Remy once again, and Remy's eyes flicked up from looking at her to see the reason for it - Nezhno had walked over to them, and moved up next to Lorna.

Remy smiled, and squeezed Sarah's hand. "Sarah, dis's de other person we picked up. His name's Nezhno."

The tall, silvery-tattooed man bowed his head toward Sarah, and rumbled a "hello" in his deep voice.

"H-hi," Sarah squeaked, gripping Remy's hand tighter.

Remy laughed, and nodded over to the entrance to the hangar where Xavier sat in his wheelchair. "C'mon you two, there's someone you should meet."

He pulled Sarah along, and Nezhno and Lorna followed along behind him.

Xavier nodded in greeting. "How did it go?"

Remy shrugged. "About as well as it could've without de time for better plans. No one got hurt at least."

Xavier nodded, and inclined his head toward the two mutants standing near Remy and Sarah. "Are they… are they the only ones?" He asked sadly.

Remy nodded grimly. "Yeah. Th'rest… didn' make it," Remy said carefully, and Xavier nodded, glancing at Sarah and realizing Remy didn't want to get into it further in front of her.

"Very well, I hope you have time for a 'debriefing' in a bit so we can go over what happened."

Remy nodded. "Sure, Charles. I've gotta get my stuff packed for tomorrow, an' get Sarah to bed, so send someone t'get me when you're ready." He nodded toward the two mutants. "Lorna, Nezhno, dis is Charles Xavier, de man behind all dis. I'll leave you wit' him."

Remy started away, and Lorna placed a hand on his arm, causing him to turn back in her direction.

Lorna smiled. "Thanks, again, for getting us out of that place."

Remy nodded, smiling back. "Y'welcome, Lorna." He said, before turning again, Sarah moving ahead to pull him out of the hangar.

"Whoah, _petite_, slow down," Remy said as she kept tugging his hand. The elevator door slid open, and the two entered, taking it up to their floor.

"You got all your stuff packed, _petite_?" Remy asked as they reached her room, and she opened the door.

Sarah nodded and pointed to her duffel bag sitting on the dresser, filled nearly to the brim. "Yeah, Remy, I'm not lazy an' putting it off 'till now, like you," she said teasingly.

He poked her side, and she squirmed away, moving to sit on the bed. "I ain' lazy, I jus' like procrastinatin'." Remy said.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Rogue would call you lazy too."

Remy sat down on the edge of the bed next to her. "I'm sure she would – you two've been teamin' up against me." He said, poking her again.

Sarah smiled, and then sighed, and leaned against him. "What happened to the other mutants you were talkin' about?" She asked quietly. "You didn't tell the Professor everything because I was there," she said admonishingly.

Remy sighed. "Dat's b'cause I didn' wan' you hearin' it. You got bad enough nightmares as it is, _petite_."

Sarah looked up at him. "Were they dead?"

Remy nodded, a frown on his face. "Yeah. Dey were doin' somethin' messed up at dat place, an' I wish we'd found out earlier. An' dat's all I'm sayin'," he said, looking sternly at her.

Sarah nodded, realizing that she probably didn't want to know, if it had upset Remy like this.

"Are Lorna and that guy gonna stay here?" Sarah asked.

Remy shrugged. "I dunno, _petite_. Dat'll be up to dem. They might have family somewhere or somethin' to go back to."

Remy leaned down and kissed her forehead. "Alrigh', Sarah, you gotta get t'bed. We've got an early mornin' t'morrow."

She pouted, but got up to grab a pair of pajamas from the dresser as Remy stood. "G'night, Remy," she said softly.

Remy tousled her hair, and moved to the door. "Goodnight, Sarah."

* * *

"And you both are quite welcome to stay here as long as you like to get back on your feet. And if you like it here, you can remain even after that." Xavier said, a warm smile on his face as he addressed Lorna and Nezhno.

"So this is like a school?" Lorna asked, looking around the main hall of the ground floor of the mansion as they walked next to Xavier toward his office.

Charles nodded. "It is. Unfortunately we have very few students here at the moment – most who have parents that accept them are visiting home or going on trips. This is our spring vacation, so most are gone. We have forty-five students this year, and we will have close to a hundred additional students by next semester."

"Aside from the basics of schooling, I help my students gain control of their abilities. We also offer courses in Mutant Ethics, exploring what is an ethical use of our powers, and at what point we should not use them."

He wheeled his chair in through his office door, and turned it, gesturing to two chairs that sat in front of his desk, which Lorna and Nezhno took. "If you would like to remain here, you could finish any schooling you might have – with the benefit of being among those who understand you and your abilities."

"We even have a close relationship with the local community college, and a number of our students are taking on-line courses with them. They just need to go into town for any field trips that classes might require, but otherwise everything is done here at the mansion. I provide tutoring for some of the classes to supplement their on-line courses."

Lorna's expression became interested as Xavier explained the school, and Charles could also feel a tendril of interest coming from the expressionless Nezhno's mind.

"So you're a school that just happens to have some sort of jet and a squad of mutants that attack Purifier bases?" Lorna asked, an eyebrow rising. "Not that I'm complaining…"

Charles laughed softly. "I guess you could put it that way. They are my X-men, a group of mutants that have been trained to fight, trained to protect the school and eliminate threats against mutantkind."

Lorna looked into Xavier's eyes. "If I stayed, I'd take those college classes you were talking about. Would I have to be a part of your X-men to stay here?"

Charles shook his head. "Oh, no, my dear. The X-men are a volunteer group – you only join if _you_ choose to, and then only if you undergo some rather intense training."

Lorna nodded thoughtfully. "But they _are_ your former students, right?" She asked.

Charles nodded. "Mostly. I have had a number of students chose to not join, but most do. I will certainly not force you to. And in fact, three of those you met were never students of mine, at least in a the general sense. They came here for varying reasons: refuge, protection, and chose to join the X-men."

Lorna bit her lip, and nodded, looking down. "I'm… I've got nothing to go back to. My family's gone – the Purifiers killed them when they took me. I'd like to give this place a try, but… I don't have any money…"

Charles shook his head. "There will be no need for that, Ms. Dane. I don't ask for money, only that you find what you might be good at and help out around the mansion."

Lorna looked surprised, then quickly nodded, realizing this may be the best way to get a new start. "Okay then, I'd like to try it out here."

Charles smiled warmly, and looked over to Nezhno. "And you, young man?"

A small smile creased Nezhno's features, and he nodded. "Yes, I would like to as well."

* * *

Lorna walked slowly through the large entryway, and down the hall, looking in the open doorways of each room as she moved, spotting what looked like a large entertainment room, and a kitchen.

Xavier had promised to send someone to show her to a room after he discussed something with the X-men who'd broken into the Purifier base. She'd left his office so that Nezhno could speak privately with him, something regarding his mutant abilities.

She didn't really know him very well, only talking to him the rare times they weren't being watched by a guard or watching one of the other mutants being dragged away kicking and screaming for whatever experiment the scientists were doing. And even then, Nezhno wasn't exactly the most talkative person, so she wasn't sure what it was he was wanted to discuss with Xavier.

She shivered slightly when she thought of the others, of how they'd come back once the Purifiers were done with them, and remembered how terrified she'd been when her door had been opened, thinking she was next, only to be shaken out of it by Remy.

She nearly jumped when the elevator door, disguised mostly by the wooden exterior of the door which matched the rest of the paneling of the hall, slid open. Her expression brightened when the subject of her thoughts exited the elevator, stopping when he saw her.

"Hey Lorna," Remy said, flashing her a smile. "Professor ready to talk to me?"

Lorna nodded. "I think so, he was talking to Nezhno when I left, and he said he wanted to talk to you and the others that went inside the building."

"You been shown around yet?" Remy asked, gesturing for her to walk with him back the way she'd come toward Xavier's office.

Lorna shook her head. "No, he said that he'd get someone to give us a quick tour and show us to some rooms for the night. Name was… Ororo, or something like that."

Remy smiled and nodded, realizing Charles would likely not feel a need to talk to Ororo as she'd not been inside. "Yeah, Ororo. You met her already, actually – white hair, flew the jet?"

Lorna's eyes widened in recognition. "Oh, alright – I know who you're talking about."

"You'll like her," Remy said, grinning. "She's been a good friend of mine for years."

Remy stopped near the computer lab, noting the door to the office was still closed, and he leaned back, sitting comfortably on the edge of one of the desks. "So…. Dis just a temporary room for you guys, or you thinkin' of hangin' 'round?"

Lorna smiled softly. "Nezhno said he's going to stay, and I'm gonna give it a try here." Her expression fell slightly, but noticeable to him. "This place… I really like the whole idea. I graduated high school in December, and I was thinking of going to college this fall, but at the same time I didn't want to deal with all the crap I'd get if someone found out I was a mutant. Here, I can go to school and not be around a bunch of bigots."

Remy nodded. "I know what y'mean. Pretty much evr'yone in de place I went in N'awlins were a bunch of mutant haters."

Lorna smiled sadly, and realized Remy must have been one of those Xavier had been talking about that hadn't been his students.

"I think you'll like it here. I did. Jus' came here t'check de place out… for Sarah," he said jerking a thumb over his shoulder toward the staircase. "Now I'm livin' here an' they talked me into coverin' some of their classes for dem. Might actually start teachin' full-time next year."

Lorna smiled, and her eyes softened, looking at him. "R-Remy," she said softly. "If I end up staying… would you like to…" She was blushing now. "Maybe, I don't know, go out to dinner sometime?"

Remy sighed – he'd been pretty certain this had been coming since he'd broken her out of her cell. "Lorna," he said softly, "I'm sorry, but I'm already wit' someone."

Her expression fell, and he placed a hand on her shoulder – he'd sensed her attraction to him with his empathy, and the whole psychology behind him basically coming to her rescue likely had only added to that.

"It's not dat I wouldn' want to, Lorna. If I wasn' wit' someone else I wouldn' hesitate. But, de girl I'm wit' – Rogue – she's..." He glanced away, and to Lorna it seemed like he was staring far off into the distance. "Y'know how people talk 'bout soulmates, an' meetin' de person y'want t'spend de rest of your life wit', an' dat sort of thing? For me, dat's her. M'sorry."

Lorna shook her head, looking at him in understanding. "No, I understand. I didn't realize- I'm sorry. How about just friends?" She asked softly.

Remy smiled, and patted her shoulder. "Deal."

The door to Xavier's office swung open, and Nezhno exited at that moment. Remy nodded to Lorna. "Ororo'll give you a good tour. M'leavin' tomorrow early mornin', so I'll prob'ly see y'around Sunday or somethin'."

Lorna nodded, a wistful smile on her face, "See you," she said softly as Remy walked toward the office and she was left standing by Nezhno, waiting for Ororo.

* * *

"Did we manage to recover anything at all?" Xavier asked as Logan finished telling about the problems they'd run into in the control room.

Logan shrugged. "I'm not sure. Most of the hard drives were shot to hell. I brought back anything that was undamaged or mostly undamaged, but it will take a while to go through all the files. Probably will need help from someone with more knowledge to get anything off the damaged ones."

Xavier nodded, frowning. "We could contact Kitty…"

Logan shook his head. "Let the kid enjoy her break. It'll take at least the rest of the week to go through the undamaged stuff, and we can get her on the rest then when she gets back."

"Very well," Xavier said, and turned his attention to Remy, the only person they'd yet to hear from. "And your part, Gambit? Obviously it was at least partly a success."

Remy nodded, shifting forward to lean his elbows on his knees. "Yeah, we got the only mutants alive out, so dat went fine. Wish we'd known 'bout it earlier though, 'cuz dere were at least a dozen mutants bein' held dere at some time."

"I caught some sort of doctor or somet'in examinin' a dead mutant, an' dere was another dead one in one of the cells dey were keepin' 'em in. Don' know what it was dey were doin', but it looked pretty fucked up."

Remy sighed, and looked to Hank, who was sitting in the room with them, having just returned from moving a number of his personal items to the mansion. "De dead ones looked like they were bein' operated on – experimented on. Their chests were sliced open an' den stitched back shut," he said, running a finger across his own chest in the Y-shaped cut emblazoned in his memory. "Blood on de floor of de cells, looked like dey bled out of their mouth an' nose, an' where dey got cut up. Any idea what dey coulda been up to?"

Hank frowned, shaking his head slightly. "I'm not sure. Perhaps some sort of organ transplant or organ removal? That would be my guess based on your description – can't think of anything aside from that off of the top of my head. Although it indicates they likely weren't well-watched or cared for given that they were allowed to bleed to death. That or they simply didn't care."

Remy shook his head. "Hm, I t'ink dey _did_ care – ran into a doctor lookin' at one of de bodies an' sayin' somethin' wasn't workin' an' dat dey kept burnin' through mutants."

Hank nodded slowly. "Perhaps we will have some luck finding out more on the hard drives you recovered."

Xavier sighed, and nodded. "Is there anything else?"

Remy shook his head. "Other than de me findin' Lorna an' Nezhno, not really. We booked it when t'ings went south, an' I blew de hell outta probably half de buildin' as we left."

"Okay, I think we're done here then. Hopefully we get lucky and find something in the hard drives that gives us more to go on with Creed, or maybe something that gives us information on more locations. I'm sure you'd like to get to sleep for your early flight tomorrow, Gambit. Thank you for leading the mission."

Remy nodded. "_Derien_. I enjoyed plannin' it." Remy stood with the others, and exited the room, walking next to Logan.

"You stayin' 'round de rest of de week?" Remy asked him.

"Yeah." Logan said.

"Do me a favor an' keep an eye on Lorna. I think bein' at dat place affected her more den she let on. She acts okay, but dey killed her family, an' locked her up in dat cell – can't be good for a _femmes_ mind."

Logan nodded, quirking an eyebrow. "Alright, Cajun." He paused, thinking for a moment and then spoke again. "You an' Sarah have a good trip. Make sure Rogue enjoys herself – she really needs a good break to forget about thing. Everything's just been nuts around here, an' I was gettin' worried about her."

Remy smiled. "I know. Her an' Sarah both. I'll make sure dey won' have a spare moment t'think 'bout all de crap dat's happened."

Logan smiled slightly and clapped a hand heavily on Remy's shoulder, causing him to shift slightly as the walked to keep his balance. "Tell her I miss her."

"I will," Remy said, stopping in front of the elevator. "Prob'ly won't see you t'morrow, so g'bye." He smirked. "Have fun wit' those hard drives."

Logan rolled his eyes. "Least it'll give me somethin' to do. See ya 'round, Gumbo." He said as the door of the elevator started to slide shut.

* * *

"Okay, that should be everything we need here. Here are your keys, and thank you for renting with us, Mr. Lord," the rental clerk said, passing a set of keys across the counter to Remy.

"Thank you." Remy said, inclining his head as he grabbed the keys, his Robert Lord persona slipped easily in place, his normal accent nonexistent.

The middle-aged man smiled and nodded, looking down at a chart. "Your vehicle should be in row C, spot 23." He looked back up. "I hope both of you have a good stay in Colorado."

Remy smiled, and it grew wider when Sarah ducked her head shyly. He grabbed her hand and they exited the small office and out warm Denver mid-afternoon air.

Row C was only a short distance away, and it didn't take long until they got to their car, a large, 4-door Chrysler sedan. Remy used the remote on the keys to pop the trunk, and he lifted their bags and placed them inside.

Remy unlocked the doors, and slid into the driver's seat while Sarah moved around to the other side and hopped into the passenger's side next to him.

"You ready, _petite_?" Remy asked as she buckled her seatbelt.

"Yeah," she said, flashing him a smile.

Remy adjusted the seat, moving it back for more legroom, and then started the car, pulling out of the parking spot and out past the gate of the rent-a-car lot, and minutes later they were on the interstate, driving away from the airport.

* * *

"_Merde_," Remy muttered under his breath, glancing for what seemed like the millionth time at the '_My reality check just bounced_'' bumper sticker of the stopped car in front of him, and rolled his eyes at it.

He sighed and leaned his head back against the headrest, his foot touching the gas slightly as the long train of traffic moved forward another ten feet. According to the radio there was an accident ahead that had taken traffic down to one lane, reducing the flow into a slow stop-and-go.

They'd made it most of the way through the main city, before hitting this slowdown they'd been in for nearly fifteen minutes already. At that moment he wished he had his motorcycle – there would have been no waiting, he could have just ridden down the shoulder the entire way.

Remy glanced to his right, and his frustration disappeared. Sarah had leaned the seat back slightly and had curled her legs up onto the seat, her cheek resting against the back of the seat, and had dozed off.

He'd tried to get her to take a nap on the plane – and had done so himself – but she was too excited by the flights, and ended up sitting awake the whole flight, headphones on her ears as she watched the in-flight movie.

He smiled slightly, and reached forward to turn the volume of the radio down slightly as she began to shift in the seat when a commercial suddenly blared over the speakers.

The flights had been mostly uneventful, except at the beginning on their first flight when the person in the seat next to them upgraded to the open first-class seat after complaining to the stewardess about being forced to sit next to a mutant.

And Remy was rather certain that the "randomly selected screening" they'd been pulled aside for at the security checkpoint had not been all that random.

Fortunately, Sarah hadn't seemed to figure that out, and the only downer for her had been the statements that led to the seat adjustments – something she quickly forgot when they got the row of seats to themselves because of that.

Remy leaned forward and flicked on the blinker, pulling into an open spot in the lane to his left which was moving faster. Finally he saw some flashing lights on the right side of the road, and they crept closer to the accident, people to the right merging quickly over to get out of their blocked lane.

From what Remy could see, it looked like a small compact had been sideswiped by a much larger vehicle and crashed into a convertible (which was hardly recognizable with the way it was crumpled up against the cement barrier that separated the interstate from the surrounding city streets).

Remy sighed and pressed his foot down on the gas pedal as they passed the accident scene and the traffic started to clear – the delay hadn't been too bad, just a pain.

* * *

Sarah's eyes opened slowly, and she felt disoriented, realizing she'd been sleeping sitting up. She blinked several times, clearing her vision, and bolted fully upright when she realized she was in their car, alone.

She started to look around, seeing a large building, and several other cars parked nearby. She felt a bubble of panic begin in her stomach and then she felt a firm piece of cardboard in the fingers of her left hand.

She glanced down and saw she was holding a playing card – the Queen of Hearts – and she relaxed, a smile coming to her face as she looked down at the card.

She rubbed at her eyes, clearing her vision more, and realized they were sitting outside of their hotel. She realized that Remy must have decided to let her sleep and went inside, leaving the card – which she'd told him once while they were playing a game of Go-Fish was her favorite card – with her so she knew he was nearby.

She kept the card gripped tightly in one hand, and slipped her other into her pocket, pulling out her passport. They'd gone into the city earlier that week, and gotten the passport from Remy's friend Dan.

She'd liked Dan right away, he was a kindly older man that reminded her of her grandfather – who she'd visited often with her mother while she was alive – and didn't have any problems with mutants.

She opened it up, looking at her picture, and the words, 'Lord, Sarah' next to it, remembering Remy's had been Robert Lord. She flipped it shut again, secretly wishing it really was true, that Remy and her were really related like the passports claimed, that she'd never been related to the man who'd hated her and kicked her out after her mother had died.

It had been brought further to mind when Remy had asked her what her last name had been, and she'd been reminded of it again during their short time at Dan's apartment.

Remy had taken Dan to the side, and they'd been talking quietly about something, like Remy always did when he was saying something he didn't want her to hear, but they'd been speaking loud enough for her to overhear some of it. Enough to know they'd been talking about her father – for what, she wasn't sure, but she hadn't felt uneasy about it: she knew Remy _wouldn't_ send her back there.

She closed her eyes, trying to get her mind off of the thought of her father, because she knew Remy hated it when she started reliving the past and making herself sad.

A slight smile danced across her lips as her mind drifted away from that subject, remembering how strange Remy had sounded when he pretended to be Robert Lord. She'd told him as much later on the airplane once the person seated near them demanded a reseating, and Remy had laughed, telling her it was even weirder for him to do it.

She almost jumped when the door handle clicked, breaking her out of her thoughts, and she looked over to see that Remy had come out of the hotel and opened the driver's door.

Remy climbed in, and grinned at her. "You have a good sleep, _petite_?" He asked.

Sarah nodded. "Yeah."

He leaned over, tousling her hair – while it meant she had to fix it later, she still loved it when he did that.

"Good." He said. "I already got our room, an' took our stuff up. You wanna go check it out, or should we jus' get goin'?"

Sarah smiled. "Let's go, I miss Rogue."

Remy leaned across the seat and kissed her forehead. "Me too, Sarah," he said, leaning back to start up the car.

* * *

Remy slid the written directions, which Dani had given him over the phone the day before, back into his pocket as they continued down the road, past a cow that was standing at the edge of the road.

Their car was no longer pristine like it had been when they left the rental place, and in fact it now seemed to have a thin coat of dust clinging stubbornly to its surface from their ride down the dirt road.

They finally saw a building around the next corner, and a woman with long dark hair kneeling near a flower bed, one of many that surrounded the house. The woman looked up at the sound of their approach and stood, waving in greeting. Remy pulled in next to two pickup trucks and parked the car.

He and Sarah popped their doors open at the same time, and climbed out, Sarah standing and stretching her legs after the long ride while Remy circled around the car to her side. The front door to the house opened, a tall, long-haired man exiting as they approached.

The woman brushed off the dirt on her hands on the seat of her pants, and stepped forward, smiling as she extended a hand. "Hi, are you Remy?"

Remy nodded, "_Oui,Madame_ Moonstar," he said, taking her hand and bending over it, his lips ghosting above her knuckles. "_Enchanté_. I can see where Dani got her good looks from."

Peg blushed slightly, and laughed. "Thank you, and please, call me Peg." She jabbed her husband in the side with her elbow. "A young gentleman who knows French, and how to flatter – you'd better be on your best behavior or I might just have to run away with Remy here."

William chuckled, and extended a hand to shake Remy's. "You'd never be able to handle her, son. Very few could. I'm William, Dani's father."

Peg rolled her eyes, and then bent down slightly, bringing her closer to Sarah's eye level. "And you must be Sarah. Rogue hasn't stopped talking about the two of you." She said, shaking Sarah's hand.

"It's nice t'meet you, Mrs. Moonstar," Sarah said shyly.

"Oh honey, you can call me Peg too, alright?"

"O-okay… Peg," Sarah said hesitantly.

Peg straightened. "The girls are just inside, cleaning themselves up. They were taking care of the animals before you got here."

As she said that, the front door swung open, and Rogue stepped out, dressed in a pair of jeans and a thin long-sleeved shirt, and Remy saw her face change completely from a neutral smile to a wide grin that lit up her eyes when she spotted them.

Sarah darted around Remy and Dani's parents, and threw her arms around Rogue. "Rouge! I missed you a whole bunch."

Rogue smiled and hugged her back. "I missed you too, Sarah."

By then Remy had made it over to them, and wrapped Rogue up into a hug of his own, Sarah squished in between them. He pressed a soft kiss to her lips, and rested his forehead against hers for a moment.

"I missed you 'a whole bunch', too, _Chére_," he said, grinning.

Rogue smiled, closing her eyes as one of his hands stroked through her hair. "Me too." She whispered.

A laugh came from the doorway, and Remy saw Dani in the open door. "You two lovebirds trying to smother Sarah there?"

Rogue blushed and pulled back, Sarah still clinging to her. She reached down, shifting so she could pick Sarah up.

"Hi Dani," Sarah said, waving over Rogue's shoulder.

"Hey Sarah, you guys have a nice flight over here?" Dani asked.

"Yeah," Sarah said. "It was long, though."

Peg smiled, and put a hand on both Remy and Rogue's shoulders. "Remy, Sarah, have you had anything to eat for lunch yet?"

Remy shook his head. "_Non_, we've only had breakfast, an' a few bags of peanuts from de plane." He sighed in exasperation. "I remember when I was little, dey used to have actual meals for de longer flights. Now y'lucky if you get more'n a soda."

Peg laughed, and pushed them toward the door. "Rogue, Dani, Will, why don't you show them around the house – I'll make them some sandwiches."

* * *

Remy stabbed another piece of apple pie with his fork, and brought it up to his mouth, glancing at Rogue who sat next to him on the couch, playing absently with her fork.

They'd shown Remy and Sarah around the house, and soon enough Peg had given them some ham sandwiches. The rest of the day was relatively uneventful, Peg and Will taking the four of them out in one of their pickup trucks around their property for most of the afternoon.

Peg had made several steaks for dinner, and apple pie for dessert, and they were now sitting in their large family room finishing off their desserts. Through the large windows of the room, they could see the sun disappearing under the horizon.

"Oh, and we have two new students now," Sarah said, finishing her rapid detailing of what she'd done since Rogue and Dani had left.

"Really?" Dani said, smiling at her – she found it cute and amusing when Sarah rambled on without appearing to take a break to breath.

Sarah nodded. "Remy saved 'em from somewhere yesterday. One of them is this really tall boy with lots of tattoos, an' the other one is Lorna – she's pretty nice, an' she's got this really cool green hair."

Dani chuckled softly at her descriptions, and then raised her eyebrow. "Remy saved them, huh?" She asked, her gaze shifting over to Remy, along with everyone else's.

Remy cleared his throat. "Wasn' just me, _petite_," he said, smiling wryly.

Sarah shrugged, and rolled her eyes. "Well Ororo, an' Logan, an' that furry blue guy all went along too, but Lorna said you were the one that saved them, didn't she?" She said, feigning exasperation at not being able to just give all the credit to _her_ Remy.

Remy chuckled, and looked to William and Peg. "Dani tell you 'bout what else we got at the school?" He asked hesitantly.

"The X-men?" William asked, "Yeah, she has, and so has Charles – we're friends from way back."

Remy nodded and continued, setting down his now-clean plate. "We got word 'bout de Purifiers wit' mutants dey'd captured an' were holdin' someplace, an' we broke dem outta dere. Only two, but… no one deserves t'get left in a place like dat."

William nodded slightly. "Absolutely. I take it Charles talked you into becoming one of his X-men? He always was good at inspiring people to be their best and help others in any way they could."

"Well, Charles did do de talkin', but I had other incentives," he said, smiling toward Rogue.

She blushed, and nudged him in the side with her elbow. "Yah get hurt this time?" Rogue asked, having been growing more concerned as they talked about the mission.

Remy shook his head. "De Purifiers didn' even know we were comin'. No injuries dat I saw, 'cept maybe Logan, an' if he did it was already healed when we got back to de jet."

William's brow furrowed. "I'm not exactly up on these anti-mutant groups. The Purifiers are the terrorist group that bombed that hospital, right? The ones they think were behind killing all those mutants in New York a few weeks back?"

Remy shifted his hand to the side to squeeze Sarah's hand when she tensed up at the mention of the Tunnels, and nodded slowly. "Yeah, it is."

"That was such a horrib-" William began.

Peg, who saw the interaction between Remy and Sarah and remembered what Rogue had told her, subtly stepped hard on her husband's foot, gaining his attention so she could fix him with a look that said _'Shut up about the subject unless you want to be sleeping on the couch tonight.'_

Peg cleared her throat, and looked over to Remy. "So... Remy, are you in college like Rogue and Dani?"

Remy shook his head. "_Non_, already done wit' college, 'least as much as I needed t'get through."

"Oh," Peg said, looking slightly surprised. "Sorry, I thought you were younger."

Remy smiled. "Well, I'm only twennyone, just got outta school pretty fast. I've been doin' some teachin', fillin' in at de Institute, an' Charles's offered me a full-time job f'next year."

Peg smiled. "That's great. I used to be a teacher myself, before Dani was born. I stopped to say home with her as she grew up, and I've just grown accustomed to our bigger ranch here, and keeping it up with Will."

"Remy's a good teacher," Sarah said, smiling up at him.

A slight pinkness came to Remy's cheeks, and he looked a bit embarrassed. "Dat's what ev'ryone keeps tellin' me, I t'ink dey're all jus' tryin' to get on my good side," he said shrugging. "It's definitely not what I'd thought I'd be doin' if you asked me jus' a few months ago."

Rogue rolled her eyes and swatted him in the gut. "Never thought Ah'd see modesty comin' outta yah, swamp rat." She said, laughing.

Dani nodded. "Remy, you know just what to say and how to say it to get people encouraged to learn or work. I know I'd still be avoiding using my powers if you hadn't kept pushing me." She said, glancing at Rogue – they'd practiced several times over the last several days with Dani's abilities.

Remy shrugged again as everyone finished off their dessert. "Like I said, if y'all say so."

Sarah yawned next to him, and Peg rose from her seat, and began to collect everyone's plates. "Don't feel obligated to stay here and make conversation with us if you'd like to get back to your hotel. We do have an early morning tomorrow if we want to get out to A-Basin at a decent time."

Remy nodded, and shot her a slight grin. "Dat'd probably be a good idea. Let me help wit' de-"

Peg shook her head. "No, Will and I can do the dishes. You're a guest here."

Remy sank back onto the seat after he'd begun to rise from it. Dani glanced between Remy and Rogue, and stood up. "Sarah, do you want to help me put away all the leftovers?"

Sarah looked over to Remy, and then shot him and Rogue a knowing smile before bouncing to her feet, and grabbing Dani's hand. "Sure, Dani." She lowered her voice. "Can I get a little more pie?"

Dani chuckled, and pulled her toward the kitchen. "Let's see what we can do about that."

And within moments, Rogue and Remy were left alone in the room. Remy leaned closer to her, smiling, and brushed her hair to the side so he could plant several kisses on her bare neck before pulling back, lips tingling.

"Didn' t'ink I'd miss you dis much, _Chére_," he murmured.

Rogue sighed, leaning closer to him as his arms slid around her. "Ah know. Even though Ah was here havin' fun, you an' Sarah were always on mah mind, an' even since yah came we haven't had time alone till now."

She was quiet for a few moments, and looked down at her hands resting in her lap. "Remy, this new girl, Lorna. Is she pretty?"

Remy shrugged slightly. "Yeah, _Chére_, she's pretty good lookin'. Nice girl, too, sucks she got taken by de Purifiers like-"

He broke off when he felt his empathy pick up an emotion from her he wasn't expecting. He looked down at her, and shifted a hand up to put it under her chin and bring her face up so he could see it. "Y'not jealous, are y'_Chére_?" He asked softly.

Rogue's cheeks turned red, and her eyes avoided making contact with his. "Maybe," she murmured. "Ah'm sorry, Remy, here we are t'gether, an' all Ah can think of is if you'll like the new girl an' get over me." She said softly, trailing off.

"Hey," Remy said, his thumb running along her cheek. "You ain' got nothin' t'be sorry 'bout, _Chére_. Y'jus' got outta a relationship wit' someone cheatin' on yah, y'got no reason not t'feel like dat."

He sighed. "Remember we wanted t'be honest, _Chére_? Well, Lorna asked me out yesterday..."

At that moment, looking into her eyes, she looked completely vulnerable, all her insecurities and experiences with Bobby coming into her mind.

Remy smiled, brushing his lips against hers. "I told her no, told her I had de woman I wanted, an' wasn' givin' her up for anythin'. I promise I ain' _ever_ gonna cheat on you _Chére_. _Never_, _hein_?"

She nodded softly, blinking away a tear.

"Good," Remy said. "I know how it feels too, _Chére_. I got my heart broken in de past same as you. Found her cheatin' on me, an'…" He shrugged. "I been in an' outta relationships since den. You're de first dat's lasted more den a weekend. You're a lot braver den me – took me years, an' here y'are jus' a week or two since it happened t'you."

Rogue's eyes softened, and she reached a gloved hand up to stroke his cheek. "Maybe Ah was just lucky t'find the right guy right away," she said softly. "Ah'm sorry Ah… sorry Ah was worried 'bout it – bein' away, an' then hearin' bout someone new jus' hit me somehow. Ah – Ah promise too, Ah'll never cheat on yah."

Remy's lips twisted into a large smile. "I know y'won't, _Chére_. Dat's part of why I l– it's why you're de first person I've stayed wit' – _wanted_ t'stay wit'."

Rogue smiled and shifted further in his arms. "Remy," she said softly, "Ah know Ah shouldn't have doubt-"

Remy placed a finger over her lips, cutting her off with a stern look. "No more 'pologies, _Chére_. You got nothin' to be sorry for, hein?"

Rogue let out a deep sigh, and then nodded. "Thanks for tellin' me what happened. Ah guess Ah'll just hafta get used to women tryin' to hit on mah boyfriend since Ah chose someone as handsome as you."

Remy grinned. "Well now, _Chére_, you really think I'm handsome? An' here I thought I was a dirty ol' swamp rat."

Rogue nuzzled her head under his chin. "Y'are. But even dirty ol' swamp rats can be good lookin'."

"Jeez, get a room you two," Dani said from the doorway, bringing them back to the present.

Sarah giggled next to her as the two of them straightened up on the couch.

Remy grunted, and placed a kiss on Rogue's cheek. "We better get goin', _Chére_. I'll see y'tomorrow." He said, reluctantly releasing her to stand up.

Sarah moved across the room, giving Rogue a hug. "Bye Rogue," she said.

"Bye sweetie," Rogue said softly, standing as Sarah let go of her, so that she could see them back out to their car.

* * *

In the kitchen, Peg and William were cleaning and drying the dishes by hand as Rogue and Dani said their goodbyes to Remy and Sarah.

William sighed at his wife, who had been silent as they did the dishes, and he set down the bowl he was holding and the towel he had been using to dry it off. "Peg, what was that about in there?"

She shot him a stern look. "You really need to learn when to stop talking and change the subject when people look uncomfortable."

She sighed. "I don't want to hear you mentioning those tunnel killings again while they're here. Rogue told me Sarah was one of the mutants down there, one of the only ones that survived, and Remy took her in. So don't even hint about it. Lord knows you've probably already given the poor girl nightmares tonight as it is."

She looked back to the dishes, satisfied that her husband looked properly abashed.

"Damn, I didn't realize," he breathed. "I guess it's a good thing she ended up with him at the Institute – if anyone knows how to help someone deal with experiencing something like that, it's Charles."

"I know," Peg said nodding and scrubbing another dish clean and rinsing it off. "I can't begin to think what that would be like, especially for such a young girl like Sarah. But, they say children are resilient, so hopefully she'll be okay."

William took the dish – the last one – from his wife and wiped it down, placing it in the open cabinet above the sink. "Sorry, Peggy. I should've paid more attention."

Peg sighed, and then smiled, moving over to hug him gently. "I probably should have mentioned it to you, but you were already asleep after I talked to Rogue that night, and I didn't think of telling you later."

She pulled back, and squeezed his hand. "Let's go say goodnight to Rogue and Dani – we should get to sleep as well if we want to get up early and get up there without much traffic."

* * *

Charles steered his wheelchair down the hall past the computer lab, toward his office. He was returning from lunch, which he ate every day – in addition to dinner – with those who'd remained at the mansion.

Sadly, the number was far higher than he would have liked, and he knew that with the increasing student body size next year, that would just increase. Only a few literally had no family to go to – two of those being the new students, Lorna and Nezhno – the others were mostly unwanted by their families because of their mutations.

He paused, and smiled, as he neared his office. The door was still slightly open as he had left it, and he pushed it open, wheeling in toward the man running a device over a wall of the room.

"Help yourself," Charles said dryly as the tall, African-American man turned at the opening of the door.

"Charles," he said, a smile on his face that reached his single brown eye – his other lost years ago and covered by the black eyepatch he now wore. "Great to see you again."

Charles smiled, shaking his hand firmly. "Nick, it's good to see you too, old friend," he said as Fury sat down in a chair, shifting it so he could sit. He slid the device back into his pocket. "Sorry, old habits and all. Don't want to be unknowingly bugged by someone."

Charles nodded in understanding. "So what brings you here, Nick? Just here to see an old friend?"

Nick smiled, but shook his head. "Not entirely. I have some official business to discuss with you."

He leaned back in his seat. "Let's start with the easiest thing first. That kid your students rescued on Alcatraz – the one that the Cure was based on. I've talked the powers-that-be into releasing him under your care if you are willing to take him in."

Charles inclined his head. "Of course, he'd be more than welcome here."

Fury smiled. "Good. I'll warn you the kid's got some sort of mutant nullifying power that works within a few feet of him."

Charles nodded. "I know. I think he may actually be able to help out other students with it as I help him learn to control it, nullifying powers so my students can remember what it was like and what they are striving for."

"Alright – I'll get the paperwork pushed through and try to get him over to you by Sunday – I know you're on a break this week, but you know how red tape is - can't move things any faster to get him more time here before you start back up."

"I'm sure he'll adjust just fine." Charles steepled his fingers.

"I'm glad you came to visit, Nick. I've been wanting to talk to you as well, about some rather disturbing things."

Fury shifted in his seat. "Alright, you first."

"I'm very worried about the future of our country and my fellow mutants – I'm sure you saw me on CNN at the debates?"

Fury nodded. "Handed that 'family values' prick his ass pretty nicely."

Charles smiled slightly. "Thank you. Well, a… let's say a _contact_ of mine piqued my curiosity and suspicions about Senator Creed, and while I was there, I read his mind."

Fury's eyebrows rose. "Must've been some pretty serious suspicions for you to do that. What did you find?"

"Creed is behind most of the anti-mutant sentiment we're seeing today. Church of Humanity, Humanity's Last Stand, the Purifiers…. He funds them through some sort of hidden system that doesn't trace back to him." Xavier sighed. "I saw a conversation between himself and his campaign manager – they were the ones that planned the killings in the tunnels in New York."

"Are you sure?" Fury asked, his expression serious.

Charles nodded. "Unfortunately I am."

Fury shook his head. "I was afraid of this. We've had our worries with some of the more militant positions he held in the past before he started the campaign, but this… I can't believe my people missed something like this – we give all the candidates a rather thorough once-over to make sure they're up to snuff, but somehow we didn't catch this."

"Well, to be fair, from what I could glean his assistant is the one that does the dirty work, and he seems to do it mostly anonymous, and doesn't leave witnesses behind."

Fury grimaced, and shook his head. "We still should have caught it. I'll have to look into the possibility that we did find it but have someone sympathetic to Creed keeping that information from the rest of us. Wouldn't be the first time."

"In any case," Fury continued, "this actually could have something to do with what I came to see you for. As you know, while S.H.I.E.L.D. is considered a part of the government, we're not exactly completely answerable to the President, given our status as a more multinational entity. Right now, I want to make a small team made up of mutants and other superhumans, and I was wondering if perhaps any of your X-men might be interested in it."

Charles raised an eyebrow. "Your Avenger Initiative? After you went public with it, I'd have thought you wouldn't want the negative publicity of mutants marring their success. Superhumans, and people wearing high-tech power armor, are viewed much differently than we are."

Fury shook his head. "No, not the Avenger Initiative. Like you said, that would be far too harmful given public opinion. No, I want to make a group made up of mutants, that utilizes their abilities – mutants I can trust, those that you recommend to me."

"While the Avengers are a great PR stunt, and quite good at what they do, that publicity means they can't do everything we'd _like_ them to do. What I want is a team in the shadows, a black-ops team that can do everything the Avenger's can't."

"And you'd like that team to be my X-men," Charles said dryly.

"No, not all of them. I want people that can keep a secret, people that don't care too much about getting their hands dirty, willing to do some… less than approved things to keep this country, and society in general, safe. And no, I'm not trying to steal people from your team. They'd be more than welcome to stay here with you and your team – they'd just have a… weekend job." He said, grinning slightly.

"And don't tell me they aren't up to it. I saw what they did at Alcatraz – they're more than capable. And they seem to be willing to get their hands dirty, given your little hit-and-run on that Purifier base the other day."

"Ah, you heard about that. I was wondering if you would," Charles said, smiling slightly.

"Would have been hard not to, considering we've been trying to insert a mole in that facility for half a year now. You find what you were looking for?"

"Partly," Charles said. "They were experimenting on mutants they'd kidnapped. There were only two still alive when we got there – both are staying here at the school. We… _acquired_ some damaged hard drives that could hopefully give us some solid link between Creed and the Purifiers."

Fury nodded thoughtfully. "Figured it had to be important for you to order something like that."

Charles sighed. "I'll tell my X-men about your offer, but I _won't_ force them to get into this."

Fury smiled. "I'm sure some of them will take it up. Even if you don't want to offer it to everyone, at least make the offer to Logan. I know he'd be up to it – we worked together years ago before the whole memory thing and Stryker. And you already have someone living here who seems to think he's a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent already."

Charles raised and eyebrow, and Fury explained. "One of your newest houseguests, the infamous Remy LeBeau. Used a S.H.I.E.L.D. Badge to rescue a mutant girl from the police in New York the other week. I gotta admit, the kid's really got some balls – don't know where the hell he got that thing – tell him he better take care of it. Wouldn't want it to fall into the wrong hands."

He pulled a sheaf of papers from an inner pocket of his jacket, nearly as thick as a book. "This is a little over half of our file on the kid. He sure knows how to do things and look innocent after he does them, and he's just the sort of man I'd like on the team."

Fury paused contemplatively before speaking again. "Maybe your skunk-haired girl would like to join as well. Her powers would definitely be useful for a team like this."

Xavier shot him a stern look. "I'll leave that up to her, Nick. You know she can't control them, and that makes her very insecure about using them, not to mention the damage it can cause to her mind without control."

Fury raised his hands defensively. "Hey, hey, just some thoughts. I don't want people forced into this."

"What are the details, so I can tell them?"

Fury smiled. "Well, first off, you'd get access to S.H.I.E.L.D. resources whenever you need them for your own activities. You could use them for whatever mission you happen to be sending your X-men on – sure you would have liked our blueprints the other day at the Purifier base."

"Second, they'd be official S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, which can pay pretty decently."

"And I know how much you are looking into expanding your school. If any of your X-men accept my offer, I can get some funding set up for you. An anonymous 'donation' to your Institute, no strings attached – enough to cover all your expenses for the school." Fury concluded.

Charles remained silent for nearly a minute, finally speaking when Fury shifted in his seat. "I'll repeat your offer to them, but I can't guarantee anyone will take it, Nick."

Fury smiled. "Thank you, Charles. I have a few mutant agents, but we just don't have enough for a team like this, so I thought what better place to try recruiting than from someone that already has their own team. Just offer it, and let me know if there are any takers."

Fury sighed, and stood, stretching out a hand to shake Charles'. "Thanks for your time, Charles. I have to get back, figure out how we missed Creed's connections. You know how to get in touch if you find anything on those hard drives."

Charles nodded. "I'll keep you in the loop – there's not much we can do on our own, but you have much more pull in your position. If we find anything, you'll be the first to know."

Outside the window of Charles' office, a sleek black sedan pulled up in the driveway. "That'll be my ride. Nice seeing you again, Charles."

"Nice to see you as well, Nick. Take care." Charles said as Fury left his office, leaving him to ponder Fury's offer, who would take him up on it, and consider how much his 'donation' would help keep the school going without need of more donations – something that was growing harder to do as its size increased.

* * *

Kitty heard the rumbling engine of her mother's car through the closed door to Piotr's modest-sized home.

"Thank you for having me over for the day," Kitty said, smiling to Piotr's parents.

Piotr's father, Nikolai, was nearly Piotr's own height, and was slightly overweight, and his dark brown, bushy beard, had streaks of grey in it that were visible at his temples as well. He'd greeted her minutes before at the door with a thick Russian accent.

Piotr's mother, Alexandra, was short, slightly shorter than Kitty herself – leaving Kitty to wonder how Piotr had grown to be taller than his father, who towered nearly a foot or more above his wife – and she had short, brown hair that was cut to frame her heart-shaped face. Alexandra's accent was much less noticeable than her husband's, clearly having had more success at reducing it over the years after she and her husband moved to America.

"Oh it's no problem, Kitty. Piotr's always spoken highly of you, and we're happy to be able to meet one of his friends."

Kitty smiled, and looked around the large entryway of their house, and caught a glimpse of a blush on Piotr's face when his mother said that.

"Come, come, you can take off that coat and have a seat in the living room. I've made some hot cocoa for us." She said, ushering Kitty ahead of her into a room with thick, shag carpet, and several couches surrounding a television stand in the corner and a slate fireplace next to that.

"The weather can be truly odd, can't it?" Alexandra asked, shaking her head.

"_Da_," Nikolai said. "Just yesterday it was warm and sunny, and today it looks like it could snow – maybe our last snow of spring."

Kitty nodded, and removed her coat, laying it over the back of one of the couches as she sat down, next to Piotr. The house was much warmer than the air outside, and it was especially warm there by the lit fireplace.

Alexandra left for a moment, and then came back with a tray with five large mugs, visible steam rising from them. She handed two to Kitty and Piotr, and then set the tray on a coffee table located centrally between the couches.

"Help yourself, Nikolai. I'll be just a moment." She walked over to the stairs, and looked up them. "Illyana, enough studying today. Our guest is here, and it is rude to not greet her," she called up the stairs.

A faint voice called back down, "Alright, I'm coming Mama."

Alexandra smiled, and sat on the couch next to her husband, reaching for one of the mugs, and sipping lightly from it.

Kitty started slightly, nearly spilling the contents of her mug on her lap, when a bright, pinkish-yellow pinpoint of light sparked to life on the floor across the room. She watched in amazement as the light quickly moved, drawing out a glowing circle, which then filled in with the same light. It reminded her almost of the forming of a wormhole, from the sci-fi series Stargate which she watched religiously: one thing she'd always admit to was aside from being a computer geek, was a sci-fi geek.

Her mental comparison seemed to be accurate when a girl – blond haired and blue eyed, who looked only a year or two younger than Kitty - levitated up through it, and it disappeared with a soft "pop" as her feet cleared the rim of it.

She smiled, and waved to Kitty. "Hi, I'm Illyana. You must be Kitty."

Kitty leaned forward and shook her hand, looking at the girl with interest. "Yeah. It's nice to meet you, Illyana."

Alexandra shot Illyana a stern look. "Illyana, you know you shouldn't be using your powers like that, especially when we have guests that you could frighten. I'm sure you've not become so lazy that you can't walk down the stairs without your powers."

Illyana lowered her gaze. "Sorry, Mama," she said, and winked surreptitiously at Piotr and Kitty, a glint of mischievousness in her eye.

Alexandra leaned back, looking satisfied, and gestured to one of the mugs. "I made you some cocoa too, _Lapushka_."

Illyana grabbed the last mug and sat down on the couch on the other side of Kitty, blowing off the steam before raising it to her lips and taking a large gulp.

She cocked her head and looked curiously at Kitty. "So you're the girl my brother's always going on about." She stated matter-of-factly, glancing teasingly at her brother.

Kitty saw Piotr blush again, and she felt a bit of heat come to her own cheeks at the hidden suggestion in Illyana's words. "I-I guess…"

Illyana laughed softly, and patted her arm. "I'm just teasing my brother. You're the girl that can walk through walls, right? Petey called it 'phasing'?"

"Yeah," Kitty said with a smile. She shifted her mug into her right hand, and then moved her left hand, causing it to pass directly through the mug, the molecules in her hand shifting out of phase from the molecules of the mug and its contents.

Illyana grinned widely at the sight. "That's awesome, Kitty. It's fun to listen to Petey tell me about different mutants he's met, but it's nothing like seeing them for yourself."

Kitty smiled and nodded. "I know what you mean – it was mind boggling when I first went to the mansion to see all the different mutants, and even now we get new mutants all the time. Everyone's unique."

Kitty took another sip of her cocoa. "Pete said you're graduating in a few weeks."

Illyana nodded, and her cheeks flushed slightly. "Yeah, I'm excited to finish up. I'm giving the valedictorian address, and I'm a little nervous about that."

Piotr leaned back, reaching behind Kitty to place a hand on his sister's shoulder. "Don't worry, _mladshaya syestra_, you'll be just fine."

Illyana just shrugged, and looked back to Kitty. "In the fall I think I'll be coming out to the Institute by you two. We've already talked to Professor Xavier, and I've got a spot reserved in the roster."

Alexandra shook her head wryly. "Illyana got accepted into Harvard and Yale, but she turned them down."

Illyana sighed. "Mama, I can still go there if I don't like it at Xavier's. Besides, we already decided that getting a pre-law degree at the community college in town from the mansion will still let me get into Harvard in a few years."

Kitty smiled slightly, finishing her cocoa, and setting the cup down on the low table. "You want to be a lawyer?"

Illyana nodded her head. "Yeah, I've wanted to for years, especially after we found out Petey and I are mutants. There aren't nearly enough people out there willing to defend mutants in court, so most of the time they end up with court-appointed lawyers who may or may not give them a good defense depending on how they feel about mutants."

She shrugged then, the passionate look in her eyes fading to be replaced with slight embarrassment. "I mean, who better than another mutant to do it with the way people are these days? There's, what, Jennifer Walters in New York, Evangeline Whedon in Philly, and that three-person firm out in San Francisco, and that's pretty much it."

Kitty grinned. "Well, if you can make convincing speeches like that in the courtroom, I think you'll make a great lawyer," she said, a slight laugh in her voice.

Illyana blushed. "Thanks." She said, setting down her now-empty mug of hot cocoa, and looking toward her mother. "Mama, can we show Kitty around the house?"

Alexandra nodded, smiling at the spark her daughter always showed when speaking about what she wanted to do with her life. "Go ahead, Lapushka. You to Piotr. I'll get started with our dinner," she said, and looked at Kitty as she stood. "Piotr told us you are… how do you say… vegetarian?... so I thought we could all try a recipe I found for portabella burgers."

"I- thank you, you really didn't have to-" Kitty said, touched by Piotr thinking of that and his mother looking for a meal to suit her.

Alexandra waved a hand, and smiled. "Nonsense, dear. It sounded like a good meal, and it's probably a lot more healthy than what we usually have. You go let Piotr and 'Yana show you around." She said kindly.

"Thanks," Kitty repeated softly, smiling warmly at Alexandra.

* * *

"And this is my room," Piotr said. "Not much, because I'm hardly here at home anymore, but…" He trailed off shrugging.

Kitty peeked in the doorway, her gaze moving over the bed and dressers of the room before stopping at the framed and unframed pictures lining the walls.

She stepped in slightly, raising her hand to touch the edge of a watercolor reproduction of the front of Xavier's mansion. "Is this… did you make this?"

Illyana nodded, smiling. "Yep, all of these are Petey's." She said proudly. "He's been drawing and painting for me since I was old enough to remember. I hang the ones he sends me up in here and in my room."

"Pete, these are beautiful," Kitty said, an awed tone in her voice as she looked from picture to painting – some were painted in full vibrant color, and others were hand drawn, detail-filled sketches. Her gaze stopped on one that appeared to be Piotr drawing each of them in a sort of group, school picture: both teachers and students.

She looked back at him, her eyes wide. "I didn't realize… I've seen you with a sketchbook a lot but I didn't know you were so good."

Piotr tugged uncomfortably on his collar, his cheeks darkening slightly in a blush. "I'm… I'm not really _that_ good."

Kitty laughed and shook her head. "Pete these are amazing. None of us knew you could do something like this – why haven't you shown us any of these?"

Piotr shrugged. "I… I guess I thought you'd all think it was weird. That's how everyone was out here – everyone thought I should go into science or sports or something like that…."

Kitty shook her head. "Pete, you can turn into organic metal. You think that's less weird than being an artist?"

Piotr looked at her with a sheepish expression.

"She's got you there, Petey," Illyana said.

Kitty's brow furrowed. "You're graduating this winter, right, Pete?" He nodded. "You should try to find an art school around the Mansion that you can go to – I think you'd be a great artist."

Piotr shrugged again, and was about to speak when Illyana interrupted wryly. "I've been trying to get Petey to do that since he left for the Mansion, Kitty. Maybe he'll listen to _you_," she said, turning toward Piotr to shoot him a knowing look – she knew quite well about his crush on Kitty.

"At least think about it Pete," Kitty said, putting on a pleading expression.

Piotr sighed. "I know when I don't have a chance at winning a conversation," he said resignedly. "I'll think about it. I was kinda wondering what I'd do after I graduated anyway."

Kitty smiled and reached out to squeeze his arm. "Good." She glanced around the room again, and a thought occurred to her. "Hey, have you ever been to the Chicago Art Institute, Pete?"

Piotr nodded. "Once, before I discovered I was a mutant."

"Well, we wanted to figure out a place to go on Friday with our families, so why don't we go there?"

Piotr looked down. "We don't have to go there just because…"

Illyana grabbed his arm in a hug. "It sounds like fun. Mama and Papa won't mind going either. Let's do it."

Piotr finally nodded. "Alright. Your parents will be coming, Kitty?"

Kitty's smiled dimmed for a moment. "Probably not my dad. I asked him at the beginning of the week about going somewhere on Friday but he's swamped at work. But my mom should be able to come," she said, her smile returning to its original brightness.

"It will be good to meet her," Piotr said, his voice dropping softer at the end of his sentence as he cocked his head.

He'd heard Alexandra calling up the stairs. She called again, and he backed out of the room, and called back in answer.

"Wash your hands and finish up your tour, dears, I'm getting ready to serve dinner."

"Okay, Mama, we'll be right down," Illyana called down the stairs.

She looked back at Kitty, and sighed softly. "That'll be the main thing I'll miss when I come to the mansion – Mama's dinner call." She said, and her stomach grumbled loudly in response.

"It sounds like it," Piotr said teasingly, poking her in the side.

Illyana jumped to the side, and stuck her tongue out at him. "You're mean. Just for that, you're gonna be doing the cooking for all of my meals when I come to school out there." She said, shooting a grin towards Kitty, before dashing down the stairs when Piotr laughed and tried to poke her again.

Kitty smiled, looking after the two, and found herself wishing, as she often did when around people who were siblings, that she'd not been an only child.

She followed them down the stairs, taking one last look back at the framed painting of the mansion in the open doorway of Piotr's room, wondering how she'd never noticed his artistic skills before – how none of them had – and wondered what else she didn't know about her quiet friend.

* * *

_**A/N: Hey all, hope you liked it. Some ROMY, a bit of cute Kitty and Piotr interaction, and Remy/Sarah fun. Few nods to some other Marvel Characters, mainly the lawyer's names.**_

_**I had to break up this chapter as it was getting two long. Part three and the end of the vacation saga is pretty much done, and I expect to post it soon. More ROMY, skiing, and a lot of other stuff to wrap up the little vacation trilogy of chapters.**_

_**See you all later!**_

_**~ShadowGryffindor**_

_**PS: Here are some translations from the chapter**_

_Lapushka – Little Paw, a sort of pet name in Russian_

_mladshaya syestra – Little Sister_


	23. Chapter 23: Vacation: Part Three

_**Disclaimer: X-Men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-Men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway ;)**_

_A/N: Hey everyone. Lots of fluffy goodness this chapter, plenty of Romy, skiing, Lorna makes a friend, more Kitty and Piotr interaction, and plenty more. Enjoy – and thanks for the reviews last chapter!_

**Chapter 23: Vacation – Part Three**

* * *

Remy jerked to the left, the muscles of his ankles turning his skis quickly, as another skier sped down the hill past him, swerving in front of him and just barely missing the tips of his skis.

'_Merde_,' he cursed as he felt his right ski catch an edge at the sudden swerve. He tried to throw his body to the side to make up for the loss of balance caused by his ski getting thrown off course, but it wasn't enough, and he landed on his back with a expelling of breath as his shirt and coat caught on the ground and snow slid up his bare back.

"_Maudit_, watch where you're going, asshole!" He shouted at the skier that had cut him off, and sat up, trying to brush the icy snow out of his back, and glared when the man, already several hundred feet away, raised his right hand to flip him off.

He heard the sound of someone else coming down the hill above him, and then the skidding, ski-on-snow sound of someone braking before Rogue came to a somewhat wobbly halt next to him, using her ski poles to keep her balance as she stopped completely.

"Hey," she said, slightly out of breath, and braced herself with one ski pole while reaching down to offer him her other hand.

He grabbed it as he crossed his skis, and she helped pull him upright.

"You alright?" She asked softly.

Remy nodded, brushing off his backside. "Yeah, _Chére_, some jerk cut me off, an' I'm not dat great at skiin' in de first place, so…." He trailed off, gesturing at where he'd fallen.

Rogue smiled. "Well Ah'll be – somethin' Remy LeBeau actually isn't good at." She said teasingly.

Remy chuckled, and shook his head. "Hey, ain' my fault someone thought strappin' two flat sticks to y'feet and slidin' down a snowy hill wit' dem was a good idea."

They moved sideways along the hill, to stay out of the way of others coming down, and Remy raised a hand in greeting as Peg and William skied past them.

He pulled off a glove and reached up behind him, removing the last bit of the cold, melting snow from his coat, and glanced over at Rogue.

She seemed to be much more in her element in the cold weather, more than happy to layer her clothing and bundle up, hiding her skin from contact with others. She was wearing a pair of sunglasses – extras that Remy had taken along – and the only skin in sight was whatever parts of her face weren't covered by the glasses, her cap, and the top of her coat.

They'd been skiing for hours now, William and Peg giving the two of them tips, and they'd improved as time went on, Rogue seeming to have a slightly better natural talent at it than Remy, but Remy's ability to learn quickly balanced that out, and they were both equally average skiers.

"Should we go meet up wit' Sarah an' Dani?" Remy asked, slipping his glove back on.

Rogue nodded, and leaned forward to plant a feather-light kiss onto his lips. "Dani's probably got her skiin' better'n us already," she said, laughing.

Dani – the best skier out of any of the group – had taken Sarah off to the smallest of the bunny slopes, the Molly Hogan trail, to give her beginner lessons.

Rogue smiled, and shifted so she was aimed downhill, and glanced over her shoulder to see if anyone was coming down uphill from her. "Race ya." She said.

"You're on, _Chére_," Remy said, getting into position himself. "On three - Three!"

"Hey, no cheating!" Rogue called as they both pushed off of their ski poles, and barreled down the hill – not exactly as fast as one could get on a black diamond trail, but fast enough for the green trail they were on now.

They remained neck-and-neck for several hundred yards until they reached a slight turn to the right. Rogue suddenly changed from the parallel turning she and Remy had been using – where the skis were kept parallel and they shifted their weight from ski to ski to turn – to a carving style: one used by more professional skiers, and she quickly pulled ahead.

"Shit," Remy muttered to himself, trying to catch up by limiting his turns that slowed him down. She didn't look shaky in the least anymore, and she continued to pull away around another slight curve, and she reached the bottom of the hill – where it leveled out to a gentle slope toward the base lodge – a good fifteen seconds ahead of him.

Remy slid to a stop next to her. "Damn, Rogue, you been hustlin' me dis whole time?"

Rogue shuddered, and leaned back against his chest for a moment before looking up and grinning at him. "I let Carol take over," she said, "she's been skiin' for years."

Remy's jaw dropped. "You little cheater," he said admonishingly.

Rogue elbowed him lightly. "'Least I didn' cheat on the count-off. Ain' my fault y'don' have a skier in y'head."

Remy sighed exaggeratedly. "Alrigh', you win. What d'ya want as a reward?"

Rogue looked back up at him, a smile flitting across her face. "Ah guess Ah'll hafta settle for a kiss."

He grinned, leaning down to brush her lips with his, just long enough to begin to feel the tingling of her powers. "C'mon, _Chére_," he said, his arm around her shoulders as they slowly made their way past the base lodge toward the Molly Hogan trail.

Peg and William were already there at the base of the hill, and they made their way over to them. "You seen Dani an' Sarah yet?" He asked.

William nodded and pointed up the hill at a pair of descending figures. "I think that's them now. They wanted one more run before we met up."

Soon the figures were visible enough, and Remy saw Sarah skiing down, with Dani following carefully behind. Sarah spotted them, and began to slow using the "snowplow" braking technique, a beginner's technique, the front tips of her skis turning inward until they nearly touched one another, leaving them in a V-shape that helped to slow her down.

He could see her straining to keep her ankles turned as she neared them. She was moving slowly, but not yet at a complete stop as she reached Remy, and he bent down, grabbing her up with one arm, lifting her from the ground for a moment before turning her around and setting her next to him.

"Y'look like you're learnin' pretty good, _petite_," he said to her.

Dani slid to a halt in front of them. "She definitely is. She's a really fast learner."

Sarah nodded, and grinned up at Remy. "This is really fun, Remy," she said, her cheeks rosy from the cold air, her breath visible as she panted slightly. She'd taken to the weather as well as Rogue, liking the heavy coat she now wore with her cap and hood, because it concealed her bone-growths completely from sight.

Remy smiled. "Told ya you'd like it," he said.

"You t'ink she's ready for one of de bigger green circle trails?" Remy asked, looking to Dani.

Dani nodded. "If you're feeling up to it, Sarah," she said, glancing at her – she knew that the first few runs they'd had, Sarah had been somewhat frightened once at the top of the hill when she saw the (relatively) long way down the bunny slope.

Sarah beamed. "Yeah, I'd like to."

"Alrigh', _petite_. Let's get some lunch, an' den we'll all go down one of dose hills together, _hein_?"

Remy shoved off with his ski poles, letting himself coast down the slight incline. "You said de restaurant up hill is good?"

Peg nodded as she and the others followed close behind him. "Yeah, we've tried the ones down here, but we like the one up there better." She said.

Within minutes they'd reached the Exhibition lift – a chair lift that Remy, Rogue, Will and Peg had been using – which serviced the green circle trails Remy and Rogue had been running, as well as several blue square trails and two black diamond trails. At the top of the lift, about midway up the mountain, was a smaller lodge with its own restaurant.

Dani, William and Peg moved ahead of them in the line, and all took the same lift chair. Remy moved to one side of Sarah and Rogue to the other as they moved forward, bending their knees and sitting down on the next lift chair as it came up behind them.

In moments their feet were off the ground, and dangling in the air as the lift swiftly rose. Sarah's gloved hand suddenly grabbed Remy's, squeezing tightly, and he glanced down and saw her face had gone pale as they went higher and higher above the ground.

He squeezed her hand back, and leaned down lightly to kiss her forehead. She looked up at him with a weak smile.

"Don' worry _petite_, you ain' gonna fall. Jus' look ahead, an' don' look down an' it'll feel better." Remy said.

Rogue glanced over, surprised, not having noticed Sarah's reaction to the height. She shifted her ski pole to her other hand, and then put an arm around Sarah's shoulder, giving her a one-armed hug.

"Remy's right, sweetie. And even if yah did fall, remember Ah can fly, so Ah'd just jump off an' catch yah." Rogue said soothingly.

Sarah visibly relaxed, and squeezed Remy's hand again with less urgency, leaning into Rogue's hug. Some color returned to her face and she looked straight ahead, glancing only to the side at both of them. "Thanks." She said softly.

The lift quickly neared its end, moving back closer to the slope as they came in. Their skis touched the ground, and Remy and Rogue stood, pushing off from the lift, and each grabbed one of Sarah's hands to help her off as well.

"Remy, are we gonna ski again tomorrow?" Sarah asked, seeming recovered from her momentary scare.

Remy nodded as they planted their poles and shoved off toward the building where Dani and her parents stood waiting. "Yeah, _petite_. Today an' tomorrow. Den we're headin' back to Denver. Maybe we'll go to a museum or de aquarium in de city an' do some other stuff 'round town before we hafta head back Sunday."

Peg had talked Remy into cancelling his hotel reservations for the rest of the week and staying instead at their house, so they'd be closer together and not have to drive back to a hotel to go to sleep or grab something they'd forgotten.

Sarah nodded happily at his answer, and then they caught up with Dani and her parents where they stood near the entrance to the lodge their skis already off.

Remy shifted a leg, pressing down on the release of one ski with his other one, and then using his boot on the remaining release. He stacked them together and set them in the ski-rack provided for the guests, leaning his poles against it as well. He turned, bending down to help Sarah remove her own skis and set them on the rack as well.

"Alright', let's eat," he said when Rogue was done removing her own skis. "I'm starved."

"I think you'll like it," Dani said as they walked toward the entrance in the awkward gait most people had wearing the bulky ski boots. "Especially if you like pulled pork – theirs is really good."

Remy grinned. "Den what're we waiting for?" He said walking faster and grabbing the door handle ahead of the others, opening it. He gestured for them to enter.

They moved inside, Rogue taking up the rear of the line, and they pulled down their hoods as they felt the warm inside air on their faces. Remy let the door swing shut behind him, and moved forward to stand next to Rogue and put his arm around her, pressing a kiss to her hair, which was slightly damp from her exertions on the slopes and from being confined by her hat.

"You enjoyin' y'self too, _Chére_?" He murmured into her ear. He thought she was, and hoped it was taking her mind off of everything that had happened during the last few weeks.

Rogue nodded, a smile on her face, and leaned back into his chest as the line to order moved forward slightly. "Yeah. Thanks for comin' out here. It wouldn' have been the same without you an' Sarah here for this."

Remy smiled. "No problem, _Chére_. It woulda been lonely back at de mansion without ya, an' I'm glad Sarah's getting a chance to have fun like dis," he said softly.

"We all needed this," Rogue said softly, looking at him knowingly.

Remy reached a hand out across the table to steal one of the fries from Rogue's plate. She batted it away, leaning forward to curl a protective arm around the remaining few bites of her pulled-pork sandwich and fries on her plate.

"Don't be gettin' greedy, Cajun," she said, smiling slightly. "Yah already took a bunch from mah plate before when yah thought Ah wasn't lookin'."

Remy raised his eyebrows innocently. "_Non_, dat wasn' me. I think you're mistaken. Dat musta been Sarah," he said, grinning at Sarah who sat next to him.

Sarah poked him in the side, a mock affronted look on her face. "I did not, Remy. Rogue an' I both saw you."

Remy dragged two of his own fries through a small puddle of ketchup on his plate, and sighed resignedly. "Well den, guess I'm losin' my touch if y'both saw me do it," he said, popping the fries in his mouth and chewing them quickly.

Peg shook her head, smiling at their banter, and then leaned forward from her spot next to Rogue. "So Remy, you're from New Orleans?" She asked, continuing the general conversation that had been going on and off during the meal.

Remy nodded. "_Oui_. Born an' raised dere."

"Where abouts? My uncle lived down there and we'd always go visit him at least once a year when I was younger."

Remy smiled. "We lived in Jefferson Parish – just a mile or two from Orleans Parish – until I was 'bout eight or so. Den when my _père_ got… promoted," he said, hesitating slightly at the word, "we moved down to de French Quarter in N'awlins Proper."

Peg nodded. "My uncle would take us down to the French Quarter all the time. I loved walking around Jackson Square. He'd always take us to eat at the restaurants in the Quarter. Is Arnaud's still there?" She asked.

Remy shrugged slightly. "I ain' been home for 'bout five years now, so I dunno. Dey were dere when I was in town last, though."

Peg nodded, her curiosity piqued. "Not like it there or…."

Remy shook his head. "_Non_, I loved it dere, just… dere's some family issues now, an'…" He shrugged. "An' I jus' ain' been back since den."

Peg looked at him sympathetically. "I know how that can be." She said, and left it at that, realizing he didn't seem to want to go into it further.

And she did know how that could be – she thought of how her aunt on her mother's side had pretty much been cut off from the family when she tried to embezzle money while working for Peg's parents, and remembered the first few awkward family reunions before her aunt had ceased to attend them.

Remy glanced at her thankfully, and wiped his mouth with his napkin. Sarah tugged at his arm then, and he glanced over to her, noting her half-eaten sandwich still on her plate.

"Remy, I'm not hungry anymore," she said softly.

"You aren't? You sure?" Remy asked.

Sarah nodded. "Yeah, I just don't feel very hungry right now, but I don't want to waste it…"

Remy smiled. "It's fine, _petite_. Sometimes when y'get really active like dis, y'don' feel hungry. Used t'happen to me all de time, but now I'm jus' a big pig an' I'm always hungry." He said, winking at her.

Sarah giggled at that. "What should I do with it?" She asked, gesturing at the sandwich.

Remy reached over and grabbed the plate, sliding it in front of him. "I'll finish it off if you're abs'lutely sure you don' want any more," he said, grabbing the sandwich and raising it to his mouth, pausing for a moment for her reply.

She shook her head. "No, you can eat it, Remy."

He nodded, and took a large bite of it, finishing it off in a mere three bites. Sarah wrinkled her nose at him as he rinsed it down with the rest of his water. "Yep, you are a big pig," she said, grinning.

Remy rolled his eyes at her, and Dani looked over everyone's now empty plates. "Everyone ready now? We've still got a good three and a half hours until the slopes close."

Everyone nodded, and stood, taking their trash to the nearest garbage can, and filing out of the now-crowded lodge restaurant.

Remy helped Sarah pull her hat back on, careful to not tear it on her bone protrusions on her forehead, and kissed her cheek before she walked over to her skis.

"You ready, _petite_? Dis's a longer hill den de last one, but it ain' too much steeper."

Sarah nodded, and smiled widely as she set down her skis and stepped into them, the locking mechanism snapping onto her boots as she pushed down. "Yeah, it's not so scary anymore lookin' down the hill now that I know how to stop myself if I wanna." She glanced up at him as he put on his own skis. "Will you stay with me though?"

Remy grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "Of course, _ma mignonne_. You go as fast as you wan', an' I'll keep up wit' you."

Sarah moved forward, pointing her skis toward the trail Remy and Rogue had come down before they'd stopped for lunch. "Alright, I'm ready," she said.

He gave her a soft push to get her started across the short area of flat snow around the lodge and toward the start of the hill, and then shoved off with his ski poles. "Okay, _petite_, first one down chooses de next trail."

Sarah giggled softly as she picked up some speed, and in moments both he and Rogue were following closely behind her.

* * *

Lorna padded softly down the stairs, knowing most people would still be asleep this early in the morning, the sun just beginning to come up. She'd slid on a light jacket that Ororo had lent to her. Ororo had told her she was going to take Lorna into the nearby town to get her some clothes of her own today.

Lorna walked by the kitchen, which was empty, and she sat down and quickly ate a small bowl of cereal. Eating quickly was a skill she'd picked up with the Purifiers: each mutant was given a meager tray of slop, and they had three minutes to eat before the guards came in and took away whatever was left.

She shook her head of those thoughts as she placed the bowl and spoon in the sink, and walked towards the glass door to the outside of the mansion – the sun had risen higher, and the grounds of the mansion were highlighted by its rays.

She opened the door and stepped out, her jacket just warm enough against the chill of the morning air. She shoved her hands in her pockets, and walked aimlessly down the sidewalk in the direction of the basketball hoops.

She'd gotten perhaps an hour's sleep last night, and when she'd looked into the mirror before she'd come downstairs, she saw her eyes were bloodshot.

Her sleep had been riddled with nightmares – each dream she was back in that cell, watching mutant after mutant be taken away and then brought back bleeding and seemingly lobotomized and lifeless. And none of them had the happy ending of Remy opening the door to her cell and telling her he was there to rescue her – they all ended with the doctor opening the cell, smiling evilly, and telling her it was her turn.

She shivered, not from the cold, and slowed slightly as she neared a bench that was already occupied. A young man sat there – he looked older than her, but not by much – and his blond hair glinted in the sunlight. He was shirtless, only wearing a pair of jeans, and he looked well-muscled, although more wiry muscle than bulky. She stared in wonder at the enormous, white-feathered wings that spread out from his back.

He glanced up at her, finally noticing her standing a dozen feet away, and raised a hand in greeting, a smile coming to his face. "Hi," he said quietly.

"Hey," Lorna said. "D-do you mind if I join you?" She asked, gesturing at the empty seat on the bench next to him.

He shook his head, and his wings automatically folded up on his back as she moved to sit next to him. "You're that new girl they brought back from that Purifier's base?" He said questioningly.

She nodded. "My name's Lorna," she said, extending a hand to him.

"I'm Warren," he said, shaking her hand, "nice to meet you, Lorna."

She smiled. "You been here at the mansion long?" She asked.

Warren shook his head. "No, almost a week. It's pretty nice here, good place to get away from it all."

Lorna nodded in understanding. "I like it here so far, gonna try the whole school thing here."

She leaned back, bracing herself with her palms against the seat of the bench. "It's so weird, hearing everything that's gone on while I was locked up by the Purifiers. A lot has happened in six months. That anti-mutant Creed guy is running for president, Magneto rips a hole in the Golden Gate Bridge…. Jesus, my mom and I used to drive over that every day – I grew up in San Fran." She said, shaking her head.

He smiled slightly. "I did too. It's a lot different here out on the East Coast."

She nodded, and glanced at him. "Definitely a bit cooler, although sometimes the fog….." She trailed off. "Speaking of San Francisco, there's this whole Cure thing…." She said, trailing off when she saw him tense up at the mention of the Cure.

"It just…. It feels like a dream, all of this. It feels like I'm gonna wake up any second and find myself still in that cell." She said softly.

Warren looked over at her at that, and patted her arm with his hand. "You could always try pinching yourself," he said jokingly, trying to lighten the mood.

Lorna laughed, and held out her arm, pinching it. "Well, that definitely hurt, so I guess it must not be a dream." She said, smiling.

"So… you're staying here… not going back home to San Francisco?"

Her gaze dropped, and her hands fidgeted on her lap. "No," she said quietly. "The Purifiers… I don't have anything or anyone to go back to now."

Warren swallowed heavily at what she was hinting at. As much as he… _disagreed_ with his father, especially now, he couldn't imagine how he'd feel if he was killed. "I'm sorry," Warren said softly, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving it a hesitant squeeze.

She glanced up, and gave him a weak smile. "Thanks," she said, as he pulled his hand back. "Sometimes I start to think I'm getting over it – it's been a while since it happened – and then it all comes rushing back as painful as when it first happened."

Warren nodded, and remained silent, not wanting to delve into the subject further and make her feel worse. They sat in silence for nearly a minute before Warren's right wing twitched slightly near her head when a fly landed on him, and she glanced over at it, now much closer than she'd seen it earlier. It was covered with downy feathers that looked no different than those of a bird.

"Can you fly with those?" She asked, nodding toward the wing, seemingly trying to shake off the previous topic and its affects on her.

Warren nodded. "Yeah. Right now I need a running start, and I need to jump from at least ten feet above the ground to get going decently, but I'm working on taking off while I'm standing on the ground. Professor Xavier said it has to do with my muscles in my wings. Always kept them tucked away, hidden from my dad, so they're not as strong as they could be."

"Your dad not like mutants?" Lorna asked curiously, tucking a strand of her long green hair back behind her ear when it drifted in front of her face.

Warren laughed softly – bitterly – and shook his head. "Not one bit." He sighed. "When he found out I was a mutant, he… well, he freaked, and the last ten years or so, he's thrown all of his money into trying to change the fact that I'm a mutant. I think most everyone here has figured it out, and you'll probably hear it soon enough so I might as well tell you – I'm Warren Worthington III. My dad's the one that made the Cure."

Lorna's eyes widened and she looked at him sympathetically. "Ouch. That definitely explains why you're here."

Warren smiled wryly, and nodded. "Pretty much. I… I actually almost took it. I've tried for so long to be the son he wanted, the _human_ son he wanted, hid my mutation from everyone for him… I was right there, the needle almost in my arm, and I just…. I just couldn't. I can't get rid of something that's such a part of me like that – can't give up _this_," he said, his wings flexing out slightly on his back.

His right wing accidentally nudged her side, and she reflexively reached out and brushed it with the tips of her fingers. The feathers not only looked like those of a bird, they were soft like them, almost like goose down.

His wing twitched at her touch and she jerked her hand back as if scalded, her cheeks turning red. "I-I'm so sorry, Warren. I was just wondering how they felt and I wasn't thinking, and… I should have asked you, I-"

He broke off her stammering apology with an amused smile. "It's alright. I don't mind." He said, shrugging.

She glanced to the side - still blushing - her hands firmly in her lap, and nodded slightly, not convinced, and still slightly mortified at what she'd done.

Warren reached out and patted her arm gently. "Really, it's fine. It's no different to me than me touching your arm like this," he said.

She nodded mutely. "I…. okay." She finally said, glad that he hadn't cared.

He smiled and flexed his wings again, this time taking care to not bump into her, and he marveled at the feeling of being free. He'd spent eleven years with his wings confined, pinned to his back with harnesses all day. The only time they'd been free was at night when he removed the harnesses his father had gotten custom made – '_All in secret, of course. Wouldn't want the public finding out his son's a mutant._' Warren thought bitterly.

And now, since he'd come to Xavier's, he hadn't put those harnesses on for even a moment. While he'd been free at nighttime, each night ended far too quickly and then it was back into the harnesses. Now he wasn't sure he'd ever want to wear them again.

"I think I'm going to go flying for a little bit," he said suddenly, surprising even himself.

Lorna looked over, and nodded. "O-okay," she said, "have fun." She hoped he wasn't just trying to get away from her now, despite his reassurances that he wasn't bothered.

Warren smiled warmly, and reached out a hand, shaking hers. "It was nice meeting you, Lorna. Thanks for… letting me vent and all that."

Lorna smiled as he stood from his seat. "No problem. We all need to let it out sometimes – otherwise we'd probably just go nuts. I –" She hesitated. "See you around."

Warren released her hand and turned, his wings folding carefully on his back, and he walked off toward the mansion.

Minutes later, as Lorna still sat on the bench, drinking in the warmth of the morning sun, she saw a blur of movement from the mansion, and turned her head. She looked just in time to see Warren leaping from the balcony of his room on the third floor, wings spread wide. He dropped for several moments, and then his wings caught the air, flapping and pulling him up and in moments he was soaring above the roof of the mansion.

She released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding, and a slight smile crept onto her face. It seemed that even if she didn't have a shot with Remy – and she knew she didn't: she'd seen the devotion in his eyes when he'd talked about the girl, Rogue, who he was with and knew she wouldn't stand a chance if she tried to compete – there was at least one other person around this place that gave her the same feeling of a spark – like a tingle down her spine – that Remy did.

* * *

Logan hesitated outside of the door to Jean's room. It was late in the morning, and he'd still not seen her up, and she was typically an early riser. While she had been secluding herself quite a bit since they had found her, she still came down early for breakfast before everyone else woke up, and if he didn't run into her then, he at least could smell that she had been there – something he hadn't this morning.

Xavier had told him that this isolation was to be expected, what with Scott gone, and her recent breakdown of her mental barriers against the subconscious entity in her brain, the Phoenix, but Logan was still worried at the lengths she'd gone to draw away from everyone else. She was afraid she'd lose control and hurt them, or worse, like she believed she already had with Scott.

He raised a hand to knock on the door when he heard Jean cry out something, as if in pain or anguish, and heard several objects inside clank around.

Logan turned the knob and threw the door open, and was stopped short by the sight before him. Jean was floating nearly a foot above her bed – tossing and turning like she was having a nightmare – and every object in the room not bolted down was floating as well, rotating slowly clockwise around the room, bumping into the objects near them.

He moved forward quickly, dodging a dresser, and cursing silently when a lamp thumped him in the head, and then he was at Jean's side. He grabbed her hand, reaching up to touch her forehead. "Jean… Jean, wake up."

The objects started swirling faster, and he reached down with his hand to grip he shoulder and shake her. "Jean, wake up!"

She shuddered visibly, and a hoarse cry of "Scott!" tore from her throat before she dropped from the air, onto the bed – the name on her lips making a pang of irrational jealousy in Logan's heart. The sound of all the objects in the room crashing down – vases and lamps breaking as well as the television – left a ringing in Logan's sensitive ears for several moments, and he was sure that if anyone had still been sleeping this late, they no longer were.

Jean's eyes blinked open at the crash, and Logan swallowed when he saw a faint hint of an orange glow in them that seemed to originate from behind her eyes and project outward.

"Jean," he said slowly, "That still you? Are y'alright?"

She sat up and he started to speak again, but she reached up and pressed her hand over his mouth as she closed her eyes, breathing heavily.

After several moments she shuddered visibly, her breathing rate increasing even more. Finally she opened her eyes, and dropped her hand weakly from Logan's mouth, resting it on his chest as she slumped back.

"Jean…" Logan said softly.

She shook her head. "It's alright, Logan," she said hoarsely. "She's back under. She tries that every other night."

Logan looked down at her, a concerned expression on his face. "What was she doin'?"

"She tries to get me really involved in my dreams – make them bad or personal or very realistic, and then tries to trap me there to give her time to break out and take over." She said, and shivered.

"Shit, Jean." Logan said, his free hand moving to stroke up and down her bare arm from the sleeve of the t-shirt she'd worn to bed, down to her fingers. "This happens that often? Have y'told Chuck?"

Jean nodded, and sighed weakly. "Yeah, he knows. We've been working on it – the human mind is always at its most vulnerable when it is asleep, and mine's even worse because she's right in here all the time," Jean said tapping her forehead with a finger.

She glanced around the room in dismay when the mess caught her eye. "It's been getting better, I've been building up my walls each day and her attacks haven't been as often, but she must have been conserving her energy for this attempt – never been that bad before," she said, nodding toward the objects around the room.

Logan nodded, and reached his hand up to stroke a strand of hair out of her face. "I came up to see if you wanted any breakfast, but now maybe we should go see Chuck." He said.

Jean nodded, and shifted off of his chest, and stood with momentarily wobbly legs. She walked carefully across the floor, avoiding a broken vase, and opened the drawer of one of the dressers. She pulled out a pair of pants from the dresser, and slid them on over the boxer's she'd worn for bottoms during the night.

"He does need to know, if he didn't already feel it," she said softly as she followed Logan out of the room.

"You want me t'come with?" Logan asked softly.

Jean shook her head and gave him a small smile. "No, that's alright. I'll only be a few minutes."

Logan nodded in understanding. "Okay, come to the kitchen when you two are done and I'll make something for you to eat."

Jean smiled and leaned up to kiss his cheek. "Thanks, Logan."

He nodded as they exited the elevator and she continued down the hall in the direction of Xavier's office. He turned, walking past the family room on his way to the kitchen.

He heard Ororo's laughter from the open door of the room, and he glanced in for a moment, feeling a momentary pang of… jealousy, he decided was the best description… when he saw her sitting next to Kurt on the couch, laughing heartily at something he'd said – Logan had noticed her and Kurt seem to become much closer friends over the last few days since he'd returned.

'_Like you have any right to feel that way_,' he could almost hear his conscience say. Who knows how Ororo might be feeling ever since Jean came back and he'd spent so much time with her. '_If she felt about me how I feel about her_,' he thought as he moved down the hall and into the kitchen, grabbing a frying pan and placing it on a burner.

He sighed as he cracked open several eggs – he had no clue what to do, no idea what was the right thing to do. He realized he loved them both, and that made any choice that much harder.

Ororo was the obvious choice, the safe choice, the uncomplicated choice. No weird love triangles in the past, nothing out of the ordinary.

Jean was the not-so-safe, much more complicated choice. There was Scott, and the whole mess attached to that issue: the fact that she'd chosen Scott over him already, the fact that Scott may or may not be dead. Then there was the whole Phoenix/mind split she was dealing with, which was "not-so-safe" in its own right, especially if Jean lost control like she'd nearly done mere minutes ago.

Logan was used to taking the not-so-safe choice all the time in his life, and sometimes it turned out perfectly and better than he could even hope for. And yet many other times it turned out badly, often hurting those involved in some way, turning out worse than he could have imagined.

He wished he could know which outcome taking that choice would end up with in this case, and if perhaps he should try to stop making those choices and be safe – uncomplicated by something that seemed like it was pulled from a soap opera. Even if he didn't choose her, he knew Jean would be close to him for the rest of their lives, and he'd always care for her in some manner.

He closed his eyes, leaning his palms against the countertop, and stood there, his mind in more turmoil than he could ever remember, as he waited for the eggs to finish cooking and for Jean to come back, hopefully without Xavier being concerned about what had happened.

* * *

Rogue groaned and tossed her sheets down to the foot of the bed as she glanced at her alarm clock for the fifth time in thirty minutes. She'd woken in the middle of the night and had been unsuccessful at getting back to sleep. Rogue sat up in the bed, her eyes moving aimlessly around the guest room at Dani's house.

They'd skied another full day at A-Basin, and driven back to Dani's home just hours ago. They'd all gone to sleep, exhausted by the day's activities, but she'd woken for some reason she wasn't sure of, and was now left unable to fall asleep again.

She sighed, and turned until her feet touched the floor, pushing herself up off of the bed. She slid her gloves on automatically, covering her hands to block any accidental absorption, should she run into anyone. She also wore a light grey shirt, and a pair of pants, which covered most the rest of her body, something she'd become used to doing at the mansion just in case she accidentally ran into someone.

She padded across the room, her white socks dulling the noise as she moved. Her lips were dry and her throat was parched, the dry mountain air being not what she was used to, coming originally form the very humid south and then moderately humid (compared to Colorado) New York.

She opened her door quietly, trying not to make noise and wake anyone else up, and moved down the stairs, intending to get a glass of water from the kitchen.

She quietly moved around the corner to the kitchen, hearing a rustling of the sheets on the pull-out bed Remy and Sarah were sleeping on in the living room. She continued into the kitchen and gulped down a glass of cold water from the faucet. She stood there for a moment and then poured another glass, and just sipped at it, intending to bring it upstairs with her.

She paused at the stairs when she heard the sheets move again and the metal frame of the pull-out make a squeak. She moved across the family room toward their bed, a smile coming to her face when she saw Remy laying on his side, an arm curled protectively around Sarah, whose head was resting on his chest.

Remy turned to the side in his sleep, obviously the source of the previous noises, and his breathing increased. He mumbled something, and she saw his fists clench, obviously in the middle of a bad dream.

She set her glass of water on the coffee table that had been shifted to the side so the bed could be pulled out of the couch, and she gingerly sat on the edge of the bed.

She leaned forward, a hushed "shhh" coming automatically from her lips, and she reached out, her gloved fingers brushing the sweaty hair from his forehead. She let her hand move back and forth across his forehead, and leaned further forward to press a brief, soft kiss to his cheek.

In mere moments his breathing slowed noticeably, and his tensed body relaxed, his head leaning unconsciously into her touch. Rogue smiled, and stayed there, continuing to stroke his forehead – she loved watching him sleep, the few times she'd had the opportunity to do so.

While he always seemed open around her and Sarah and Ororo, more open than around most others, he always had some sort of wall up around his mind and his emotions – something she figured was the result of how he'd been brought up as a thief. But when he was asleep, even that disappeared and he completely let down that last guard.

Her hand slipped down to stroke his cheek, and she felt a pang at not being able to do this without these gloves – at least not without worrying about breaking contact in a minute so she didn't kill him.

'_And he doesn't care if that's all we can ever have,'_ she thought with a sense of wonder, a single tear slipping down her cheek. It was something that was hard for her to grasp, that someone cared for her enough to be with her, even with the possibility that she never got control of her powers.

It hadn't been like that with Bobby – he'd always been convinced that she'd get control just around the corner, and as time went by and she didn't, things had strained and then broke.

But Remy _knew_ that it might take even years if she ever completely controlled them at all, and he simply didn't care. She felt a flush of embarrassment course through her when that thought led to remembering how she'd been jealous when Remy had talked about Lorna – she couldn't believe she'd been so jealous and scared that he'd leave her.

But that jealousness had fully opened her eyes to their relationship, and how deeply and quickly it was developing, as well as the true depth of her feelings for Remy.

With Cody, it had been attraction built on a previous friendship. With Bobby, she decided, it had been attraction along with desperation, reaching out to anyone that would accept her mutation the slightest bit.

But with Remy, it was much more. It was more than she'd ever felt for someone, and it felt like her heart was exploding with happiness whenever she even thought of him. And the loneliness of the few days in Colorado away from him had been awful.

She'd never really _loved_ anyone aside from Logan – but that was in a different manner, an affectionate, almost father-daughter love – but she couldn't think of anything else to describe how she'd come to feel for Remy.

Rogue felt her eyes droop as sleep finally crept up on her, and she started to stand to go back to her bed, but then instead shifted from her seat on the pull-out, and laid next to Remy's warm body, tugging the sheet until it covered her as well.

She turned on her side, pressed up against his back, and in moments her arm joined him just below his own arm in curling around Sarah. Her slowly fading thoughts drifted to how much fun tomorrow would be – she'd be combining two of her favorite things: spending time with Remy and Sarah (as well as Dani and her parents), and spending a day horse-riding.

Her eyes slipped shut, and she rested her forehead on his back, and she murmured her feelings softly – "Love yah, Remy."

Perhaps, she thought as she slipped to sleep, perhaps she would work up the courage in the next few weeks to say it to him when he wasn't in a dead sleep.

As Rogue's breathing evened out, she missed the large smile that curved across Sarah's face – she hadn't realized Sarah had awakened when Remy first started moving, and probably would never have said it aloud if she'd known.

Sarah knew for certain Remy felt the same way about Rogue, and sometimes she just wanted to whack them over their heads so they could get over their hesitancy and just tell each other how they truly felt, especially when even she – someone young enough that most people still dismissed her as simply a 'little kid' – could see how they felt and acted.

She'd said as much to Ororo before they'd left, and Ororo had laughed heartily at that, saying she sometimes felt the same way, only she'd use lightning bolts. She then told Sarah she had to be patient as much as she didn't want to be, and let them go about it their own way, especially after everything Rogue had been through with her mutation and with Bobby, and Sarah had reluctantly promised she'd leave it be.

Sarah sighed contentedly, and wriggled closer against Remy's chest and into Remy's and Rogue's arms. '_This_,' she thought, '_is how I wish we could sleep every night_.'

* * *

"Come to bring me good news?" Graydon Creed asked as Ron Maldrone entered the hotel room, closing and locking the door behind him.

Ron glanced around the room, and Graydon nodded to him, indicating it was safe to talk. "A little good and a little bad, I'm afraid," Ron said, taking a seat in front of Creed.

Creed sighed. "Let's hear the good first."

"I just got the most recent polling numbers – mutant distrust is now fifty-five percent – highest yet. Magneto's attack really shook a lot of people, and Friends of Humanity and the others are doing as you said, increasing their message, and it looks like it's really working. Right now, just on the mutant issue, you have a huge base for the election. I take it you saw the 'attacks' last night as well?"

Creed nodded, a small smile on his face. Last night, several government buildings and police stations in Pittsburgh had been attacked by a mysterious group of people, destroying buildings and cars with blasts of energy that seemed to emerge from their hands and chests. People were blaming it on a gang of mutants. "Our Purifiers, I presume?" Creed asked.

Ron grinned. "Indeed. They're planning another one in Kansas City in a few days. Those energy suits that we… *ahem* 'acquired' from that secret S.H.I.E.L.D. weapons shipment seem to have them eager for more, and the fact that it makes it look like mutants doing all this only makes it better for them."

"Any word from Montana?"

Ron shook his head. "Not much. It'll take some time before what they are working on is even feasible, like I said when I got back, but when it's ready… I think it may be just in time to use and cinch us the Presidency. Apparently they found some more of Stryker's files from years back, and let me just say, he was up to some interesting things…."

Creed nodded – he'd met the man several times, but not really gotten to know him. Now, in a way he wished he had, apart from the possible political consequences he'd be facing now after Stryker's operation had been shut down.

Creed then sighed. "And the bad news?"

"I just heard from our friend in that DoD Artificial Intelligence project. Apparently he had been… exaggerating a bit about the first test today. While he'd given us the impression it would be a fully operational 'proving' test, apparently it was only semi-operational, just enough to test out the AI and look for bugs. They apparently found a few and it could be two weeks or more before we even get to the first proving test. After that they start trying out group exercises once they work out any bugs revealed in that test, and I think that's when we'll have him activate his Trojan programming for us."

Creed shook his head, and sighed in frustration. "Damn, I was hoping to see it a lot sooner than that. Well, hopefully it will be before the Democrats chose their candidate."

Ron nodded. "I'm sure it will."

Ron reached into his briefcase and pulled out some papers. "Now, we have to go over what you need to say tomorrow at the next press conference. We need to keep these up each week, or else the press will forget about us while the Democrats keep fighting, and we can't have that. Now… What do you think about this?" Ron asked, handing him the speech that had been prepared.

* * *

Piotr knocked again on Kitty's door, louder than his first rather soft knock, and this time there was a response from inside. It was Saturday night, the two of them just recently returned from Chicago, and Piotr was worried.

They'd had a great time at the Chicago Art Institute, and Piotr had enjoyed meeting Kitty's mother, Theresa Pryde – her father, as Kitty had predicted, had been unable to come with them – Theresa was just as friendly as Kitty herself.

Today, after Piotr had said his goodbyes to his parents and his sister and promised to take a day off to fly out for her graduation, Piotr's father had dropped him off at the airport. Kitty was on the same flight back, just as they'd had the same flight there, and Piotr had looked forward to spending the extra time with her.

But she'd only arrived ten minutes before the flight boarded, and aside from a quiet hello and a few niceties during the flight, she'd been completely silent, staring at the same page in one of the on-flight magazines or simply at the tray-table on the seat in front of her.

The trip home in the taxi had been even more awkwardly silent, and led Piotr to wonder what had happened to affect her like this. He wasn't sure if he'd unknowingly done something wrong and she was giving him the silent treatment because of it until he apologized, or if it was something else.

He'd spent the cab ride back and nearly a half an hour working up his courage as her: to find out what it was – hoping he hadn't done something to hurt her. He'd been wracking his mind, replaying the previous day's events, trying to think of something, but he kept coming up blank. Only talking to her would end this, he'd decided.

He heard Kitty's muffled voice inside the room answer the knock. "Bobby, I'm really not feeling like doing anything right now. Please… can we just talk tomorrow?"

He closed his eyes briefly at the mention of Bobby, who'd not been there when they arrived. "Kitty, it's Piotr," he said.

There was a pause and a sound of rustling sheets, and what sounded to him like a nose being blown. "Oh, sorry, Pete. I don't feel up to much right now."

"I… I just really need to talk to you. Please," Piotr said, resting his forehead on the door.

There was another, much longer pause, and another rustling of sheets, and for a moment he thought she wasn't going to answer. "O-okay, you can come in, Pete."

He opened the door, and stepped into her room – it was a neatly kept room, with posters of various rock bands covering the walls, science fiction books occupying much of her shelves that weren't already occupied by programming language and computer science books.

Kitty was sitting on her bed, her knees drawn up to her chest, facing the balcony of her room, the sheets on her bed messed up as if she'd been laying down.

"Kitty," he said hesitantly, moving closer to her.

"Hey Pete, what's up?" She asked quietly, her throat sounding slightly hoarse.

She turned her face to look at him, and his stomach dropped.

_Oh. Tears. Big tears. On her face, running down her cheeks._ He'd been hoping he'd not done anything to anger her, and thought that she'd simply been mad at him, but this was even worse. She'd been _crying_ – since they'd come home, from the looks of it, and as she looked at him another tear trailed down her cheek, dripping off onto her lap.

Tears, Girls, and Piotr didn't go well together – other than with his sister, he became even more awkward when tears entered the equation, especially when it was a girl he liked.

"K-Kitty," he stammered, "I – I'm sorry. If I did something that hurt you or made you cry, I'm really sorry – I don't know what it was, but I'll make it up to you: just tell me what it-"

His rambling apology was interrupted by a wet giggle from Kitty. "P-Pete," she said, trying to keep from laughing. "Thank you for trying to apologize, it means a lot to me, but you didn't do anything wrong."

Piotr blinked. "I… I didn't?"

She sighed, and looked down, one of her hands grabbing a Kleenex and wiping her nose with it. "No, you didn't. I guess I must've really been a bitch to you on the way back to make you think that. I didn't mean to give you the cold shoulder."

Piotr smiled slightly, mentally sighing in relief. "N-no, you just… seemed distant, and I thought you were giving me the silent treatment, and then I saw you crying…" He trailed off, and frowned. "If it's not me, then what's got you so sad?"

She blinked away a tear for a moment, and then gave up, letting it fall. "It's….." She began, and then stopped, swallowing heavily.

"If you don't want to talk about it-" Piotr began.

She shook her head. "No, it's okay. It'll probably feel better if I talk to someone." She raised the Kleenex and blew her nose.

"All last week when I was at home, something felt… off. Something was just weird the way my parents were acting. I thought it was just because I haven't been there since Thanksgiving time…"

She trailed off, and then began again. "Last night, after we went to the Art Institute with you, my dad came home, and then he and my mom started arguing, shouting. I-I've never seen them like that before, and they didn't even seem to remember I was there until I tried to break it up."

She cleared her throat, her voice now trembling. "They sat me down after that, and… they told me they're getting a divorce," she said, her face crumpling. "Daddy's been seeing someone else for two months now, and he's been living with her for a while. He only came back home to be there when I got back while they decided how to tell me. I guess they started the legal stuff back in December, and it's almost all done."

She sobbed one, and looked up at Piotr. "Why didn't they tell me? How could they be getting divorced? I thought they loved each other…" She trailed off, sniffling.

"I – Kitty, I'm so sorry," Piotr said, moving to sit on the bed next to her.

He reached out to put an arm around her shoulder, and nearly lost his balance when it passed through her. "Kitty," he said, concern in his voice. "You're phased out…."

She frowned, and then looked up to him. "Sorry, I didn't realize I was doing that. I guess I just feel….. safer. Nothing can touch me."

"Could… could you unphase?" Piotr asked softly.

She sighed. "I –okay. It's probably not very good for me anyway."

She reached out and patted his arm with her hand. "I'm back." She said softly.

Piotr hesitantly put an arm around her shoulder. "I'm sorry." He said.

Kitty's shoulder's hitched, and she turned her head into his shoulder, and in moments he felt warm tears on the fabric of his shirt.

"They should have told you…" Piotr said. "Maybe they didn't want to worry you or upset you when they decided it, but they should have told you, not hid it from you like that."

She nodded into his shoulder. "I- I know," she mumbled. "That only made it hurt more. I've.. been thinking about everything now, trying to figure out where it all started, why I didn't notice something was different."

"Kitty," he said softly, "you were in a different state. How could you know?"

Kitty laughed bitterly. "You're right, I'm just beating myself up over this, wondering if the only reason they stayed together was because they were raising me…"

She leaned against his shoulder silently for several minutes, and then glanced up slightly until her eyes could meet his. "Thanks, Pete. It's a bit better now that I talked to someone. And… sorry for being such a bore on the way back."

Piotr smiled back and shook his head. "It's fine. I was just worried. With good cause, it seems," he said sadly. "If there's anything you need – anything – let me know. Even if it's just someone to talk to."

Kitty nodded, and rested her face against his shoulder. "That's really sweet of you, Pete," she said, her position leaving her oblivious to the blush that blossomed on his cheeks.

"Right now, I just want a shoulder to cry on. If you don't mind a wet shirt," she said, a smile in her voice.

He shook his head, and shifted so she could lean more comfortably against him. "I don't mind." He said, smiling down at the top of her head.

Even if this was all he ever was – a friend whose shoulder she cried on – it would be enough.

* * *

* * *

_**A/N: **__Well, hope y'all enjoyed the chapter. I expanded the chapter, added a number of scenes for you guys – originally it was going to be a short wrap-up but I fleshed it out a lot over vacation, lying on the beach :p._

_Anyway, hope you liked it (awkward Piotr is one of my favorite things ever :) ), sorry I didn't have time to reply to your reviews, I'll try to once I hit the submit button on this chapter. Next chap will be the return of the others to the mansion, Leech will get his first taste of the mansion, and hopefully plenty more Romy+Sarah._

_On a side note, I watched the movie "2012", and saw the cutest little actress, playing the daughter in the movie. Her name is Morgan Lily, and I was shocked because she was pretty much the spitting image of what I think of when I'm writing Sarah (even about the right age). So, if you'd like to see what Sarah in my story looks like, look her up – though you have to imagine pinkish hair and a few bony growths on her forehead and arms, LOL :D._


	24. Chapter 24: Return

_**Disclaimer: X-Men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-Men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway ;)**_

_A/N: Hey, here's the next chapter for y'all. Not much action (actually none really at all), but a lot of character development, and plenty of Romyness. Please, read and review!_

_**Chapter 24: Return**_

* * *

Remy stirred slowly, his mind still wrapped up partially in the pleasure of sleep. He yawned slightly, enjoying the warmth of the bed. Remy rolled his neck slightly, and started to stretch, when he realized the bed had one more occupant than it had when he'd gone to sleep last night.

Sarah was still cuddled up against him, and he could feel the bony growths that studded her forehead pressing into his chest, but the warm body plastered very closely against him from behind was definitely new, and definitely…. female.

He took in a breath, and then relaxed, smelling the faint apple-cinnamon of Rogue's shampoo that always reminded him of his Tante Mattie's apple crumble. He smiled mentally, wondering when she'd joined them. Normally he'd be worried he hadn't snapped awake at the slightest movement near the bed, but he'd come to realize over the past month, that his unconscious mind knew when something near by was unknown, and when it was someone he trusted completely.

Remy shifted in the bed slightly, trying to not wake either of them, and pulled away from Rogue slightly so he could lie on his back on the bed. Rogue mumbled something that sounded grumpy even in her sleep as she shifted to press back up against his side and regain the warmth she'd momentarily lost when he'd moved.

He shifted his arm so he was comfortable, and leaned to his right to lightly kiss her forehead, careful that it was short enough a contact that she didn't begin to absorb him and wake up because of it.

He blinked, the morning sun bright even through the blinds on the large picture windows near the couch. When he glanced over to his left, he nearly jumped when he spotted Peg standing near the base of the stairs, a smile on her face as she watched the three of them.

"Good morning," she mouthed to him. He started to move, trying to sit up, a slight blush on his cheeks, but she shook her head and gestured for him to stay where he was.

"'Mornin'," he mouthed back, raising his free hand in a short wave.

She smiled, and moved closer, leaning against the back of the couch portion that faced the part they were sleeping on. "Breakfast in ten," she whispered. "Figured you'd want to wake them up for it yourself."

"Thanks," he said, and she backed away, back toward the kitchen. As she did so, he realized he could smell waffles cooking – something that hadn't registered with him when he'd woken. And then moments later he heard the faint sizzle of bacon being slapped on a frying pan or griddle.

Remy stretched in place, the muscles of his calves aching slightly from the exertion they'd been put through over the past two days on the slopes. While he kept in shape, exercising at least once a day, there were some muscle groups simply not used much during normal activities, and skiing revealed one of them in his case.

He had already given Sarah some Tylenol before they went to bed to help ease her own aches and pains, which had been much worse than his own.

Remy reached up to brush Rogue's hair to the side, behind her ear, and gently stroked her face. "Wake up, Rogue," he whispered into her ear.

A frown crossed her features for a moment, and he shook her shoulder gently. She groaned, and then her eyelids slowly blinked open, treating him to a close-up view of her warm brown eyes struggling to focus in on his face.

Once they did focus, she smiled, and shifted slightly on the bed. "G'mornin', Remy." She said, her voice soft and slightly hoarse from sleep.

She glanced down and then around at her surroundings, and realized she was basically draped across his body. She blushed slightly, and cleared her throat. "Sorry, Ah woke up last night an' got some water, an' you were havin' a bad dream, so Ah decided ta stay down here."

"Thanks. Pleasant surprise wakin' up," Remy said, grinning and leaning down to kiss her nose.

Rogue smiled, and then pulled back slightly, raising her arms over her head in a full-body stretch.

"Figured I'd wake y'up now, Peg says breakfast'll be ready in 'bout ten minutes." Remy said as she settled back.

Rogue's eyes darted to his, shocked. "Peg? She… saw us?" Rogue asked somewhat nervously. She wasn't sure if Peg would or wouldn't approve of her sleeping in the same bed with her boyfriend at her house – she really liked Peg and hoped she wouldn't be upset. "Was she, y'know, okay with it?" Rogue whispered.

Remy chuckled slightly. "Yeah she saw us, an' she was fine – had a huge grin on her face when I realized she was lookin' in on us. It's not like we were naked in bed t'gether or something," he said, realizing why Rogue had asked the question.

Rogue flushed darkly at that, and swatted him in the chest. "Swamp rat," she muttered darkly.

"I do enjoy it when y'use yer pet name for me, my Miss'ippi River Rat," Remy shot back quietly with a grin.

Rogue gasped. "Ah ain' a rat," she said, swatting him again.

This time he winced slightly. "_Chére_, remember, you got t'watch y'strength."

Her smile dimmed, and regret filled her eyes. "Sorry, Remy. Sometimes it's hard t'do. Ah've been workin' with Carol on it, but sometimes Ah forget."

He smiled, and cupped her cheek with his hand. "S'alrigh', Rogue. Just remindin' you."

His gaze moved to the still sleeping Sarah on his other side. "Better wake her up too, else I'll get hell 'bout makin' her miss breakfast."

Rogue laughed softly at that as he pulled his hand back from her, and moved it down near Sarah's side, and poked her once before gently tickling her in a spot just below her ribs that he knew always got her.

She twitched several times, her arm coming up to try to swat his hand away, and then her breathing changed as she came fully awake. "Time t'get up, _petite_," Remy said softly.

Sarah rubbed at her eyes, and blinked rapidly, trying to clear them. "Somethin' smells good," she said, sniffing the air.

"_Oui,_ dat would be Peg makin' breakfast for us. Dat's why I woke you up." Remy said.

"Thanks," Sarah said, turning her head. "Good morning, Rogue."

Rogue smiled at her, sitting up in the bed, but still clutching the blanket to herself. "G'mornin' sweetie. How'd you sleep?"

Sarah smiled widely at that, a twinkle in her eye. "Really good," she said, refraining from making a comment hinting at what she'd heard the previous night.

Remy started to sit up as well, with Sarah no longer resting on him. "Let's get up an' help Peg set de table an' get everythin' ready, _hein_?"

Sarah nodded and then froze, staring at Remy when he let the blanket slip off of him. Her face went pale. "R-Remy, did I hurt you?" She asked.

His brow furrowed until she reached up a shaky hand to the t-shirt he'd worn to bed. Glancing down, he saw that the front had numerous places slashed open, some of them running across the front completely, and others merely holes, all caused by the bones on her forehead.

"_Non_, you didn' hurt me, Sarah." Remy said, smiling reassuringly. "Jus' poked a few holes in an ol' T-shirt."

She let out a relieved breath when she couldn't see any obvious scratches through the torn T-shirt. "I'm sorry, Remy."

He smiled and shook his head. "Nothin' t'be sorry for, _petite_. I used t'blow up my toothbrush ev'ry night an' every mornin'. Puttin' a hole in a shirt is nothin' compared to dat."

Rogue nodded, and reached behind Remy to squeeze Sarah's arm. "It's fine, sweetie. Let's go help with breakfast."

Sarah looked down for a moment, and then back up again. "Okay," she said quietly, throwing the sheets off, and getting up as Remy and Rogue did.

"Good morning," Peg greeted them warmly as they walked into the kitchen.

"Morning," Rogue said smiling hesitantly, still a little worried deep down about Peg seeing her and Remy – she remembered staying at a friend's house when she was fifteen, and her friend's parents being rather angry… not violently angry, but an anger you could see in their posture… when her friend's older sister had her boyfriend over in their guest room and then was caught sleeping in the same bed with him. It was something that always stuck with her, mainly because her friend's mother reminded her so much of her own, and she was certain her own would react in much the same way.

"Good morning, Rogue, did you sleep well?" Peg asked, smiling back, as she pulled several strips of bacon off of the skillet.

"Y-yeah," she said, and then a look passed from Peg to herself, a knowing look that showed she didn't care about it, that it didn't bother her, and Rogue felt herself relax.

"What can we do ta help get breakfast ready?" Rogue asked.

"Well, I got all the plates and silverware out," she said, nodding to the pile of dishes at the edge of the countertop. "You guys can put those out, and by then I should be just about done with breakfast."

"Alright," Rogue said, as she grabbed the pile and handed dishes to Remy and Sarah, and began setting the table.

* * *

_Two days later_

Rogue sat on the bed of the guest room, packing up the last of her things for the trip back to New York. She was shoving a thin case that held her toothbrush and toothpaste into her duffel, when she looked up at hearing a soft knock on the doorframe.

Peg was standing in the doorway, and smiled at Rogue. "Hey." She said.

Rogue straightened up, letting go of the case which had only made it halfway in to the duffel. "Hey Peg. What's up?"

"Just wanted to talk to you before you guys left," she said smiling, moving into the room to sit down next to Rogue.

"Uh, sure." Rogue said, a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

Peg patted her hand. "I just wanted you to know that you're welcome back here any time. Remy and Sarah too. It's been a lot of fun meeting you guys and spending time with you."

Rogue blushed slightly, and looked down at her hands. "Uh, th-thanks."

Peg grabbed her arm. "Hey, I really mean that. Anytime."

Rogue nodded. "Thank you."

Peg smiled. "I also wanted to talk to you about something else…. I don't… I don't want you to think I'm being nosy, but I wanted to talk to you about Remy."

"Remy?" Rogue asked in surprise.

She nodded. "Yeah. I… I haven't seen a relationship like yours in quite a while. You both just seem to fit perfectly. It reminds me of Will and myself."

Rogue blushed. "Ah-we're… It just feels right, y'know? Like we're s'posed t'be like this."

Peg nodded, grinning. "I know exactly what you're talking about. Listen, I just wanted to say… He's really something, and… most people aren't lucky enough to meet someone like him. And the way he is with Sarah… It's not just adorable, it's really touching. A lot of people would have maybe helped her out and then dropped her off at a hospital or an orphanage, but Remy…." She trailed off.

Rogue smiled back, her eyes warm. "Ah know. He's pretty much taken her in as his own. That's just – Ah guess it's just th'way he is. Guess it doesn' hurt that he was an orphan too, before his family adopted him." She said softly.

Peg's eyes widened. "That might have something to do with it," she said, and then shook her head. "Sorry, didn't mean to get sidetracked into that. I just wanted to tell you that your Remy's special, and not to let him go."

Rogue smiled, the edges of her eyes crinkling slightly. "Ah won't. Ah…. It's so weird. Ah've known him for about a month, an' now Ah can't ever imagine him not in mah life. S'long as he doesn' get tired of me, Ah'm not gonna let him go."

Peg nodded. "Good. And he won't get tired of you. Just the way he looks at you, I'd be jealous if Will didn't look at me the same way."

Rogue blushed again slightly, remembering her sleepy "confession" a few nights before. "Thanks." She said quietly. "Ah know he won't, but… sometimes mah mind starts goin' places with my mutation an' all, an' Ah worry that he will until Ah can knock some sense back inta mahself."

Peg looked at her sympathetically. "I can't imagine how hard it must be for you. No one should have to go through something like that."

Rogue shrugged. "Ah get by. It was really bad till Ah met Remy. We're workin' with mah powers, an' Ah can actually touch him for about two minutes now. Slowly gettin' better," she said with a small smile.

"Good luck." Peg said gently, starting to stand, but then stopped, and sat back down. "I also wanted to thank you. You're such a great friend to Dani and… I'm glad she met you. She had a few friends here in Boulder, but once everyone found out she was a mutant….." Peg trailed off.

Rogue nodded. "Dani tol' me. Ah had the 'pleasure' of meetin' Pat when Dani an' Ah went to the grocery store on Monday," Rogue said wrinkling her nose.

Peg frowned. "Yes… Dani was so devastated after that. She wasn't the same until she went to Xavier's and made friends with you and the others there. So thank you for helping bring our Dani back."

Rogue smiled awkwardly, and scratched the back of her head. "Dani's been a good friend to everyone there, too. Yah raised a great girl."

Peg beamed at that, and then finally stood up. "I'll let you finish packing. Just wanted to talk to you before you left."

Rogue nodded, casting an eye over her remaining things. "Thank yah for havin' us."

Peg leaned down and gave Rogue a warm hug, shifting carefully when Rogue tensed up to make sure she didn't touch her. "No problem," she whispered.

Rogue sighed and closed her eyes, smiling once Peg released her and left the room. She was, Rogue thought to herself, exactly the sort of person she wished her own mother had been like. Dani would never realize just how much Rogue envied her for that.

Rogue shook her head of that subject, and glanced back to her duffel, and proceeded to try to fit everything back in – just like always, once it came out, it was hard to get back in later, she thought, shoving another shirt into the already bulging bag.

* * *

Charles directed the wheelchair to the end of the sidewalk where the drive circled around in front of the mansion as several black government vehicles pulled up in front of him.

The door to the middle one opened, and a tall, attractive blonde woman dressed smartly in a professional-looking blouse and dresspants climbed out of the car, and walked over to greet him.

"Charles Xavier?" She asked, and he nodded. "I'm Agent Sharon Carter. It's nice to finally meet you. Director Fury talks about you a lot." She said, shaking his hand.

"It's a delight to meet you, Miss Carter," Xavier said with a smile. "I hope most of what you've heard is good?"

Sharon grinned. "Please, just Sharon. And yes, I've heard naught but good things."

She glanced around at the grounds of the mansion. "Not exactly what I was expecting for a mutant school," she said, an eyebrow raised.

Charles nodded. "Yes, that is the reaction of most people when they first see it. Looks can be deceiving, as they say. I inherited the property from my father when he passed away, and I've been trying to bring my dream to fruition ever since. This was simply the most convenient place to start the school."

He shook his head. "I never imagined it would grow into what it is becoming today, nothing nearly this big." He nodded over to a wing of the mansion behind him. "I just had that wing built this year for the influx of students we will be having this fall, and already I'm beginning to think of further expansion."

Sharon nodded politely. "Sometimes things don't go as we planned – fortunately sometimes it's a good thing. Speaking of expansion, Nick hinted that I should ask you about the thing the two of you spoke about."

Charles sighed. "Tell him I'm sorry, but those he wants answers from are only coming back today. He'll have his answer by Wednesday at the latest."

Sharon nodded in acceptance. "I'll tell him that. Now, Jimmy is in the limo. Would you like to meet him now?"

Charles nodded. "Yes. Is there anything additional I should know about him before we take him in?"

Sharon shrugged slightly. "Just that he's quite the sweet boy. And that his mother has divorced his father over his agreement with Worthington to let his son be used. She has custody now, and just wants him safe and wants him checked out to make sure this power is his only one, and perhaps get some help for him in controlling it."

Charles smiled. "Well, let her know she's sending him to the right place for that."

Sharon reached up, surreptitiously pressing a finger to the stud earring of her right ear, and then brought it back down. Almost instantly the first tinted-windowed sedan opened its doors, two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents exiting the car, hands near their holstered weapons, and then Jimmy emerged warily.

Sharon walked back over to the car and rested a hand on his shoulder, walking him toward Xavier. "Jimmy, this is Charles Xavier. He's in charge of the mutant school we talked about."

Jimmy looked almost shyly at him as he neared Charles. Charles smiled warmly, and stretched out a hand. "Hello Jimmy it's very nice to-"

He stopped, a strange expression on his face as he came within range of Jimmy's powers. "Oh, my…" he said softly.

"Uh, sorry," Jimmy said. "That's my power."

Charles shook his head, and then shook Jimmy's hand. "No, don't be sorry, Jimmy. I was just a little surprised at the sensation, despite knowing your ability. I am a telepath, you see – I can hear thoughts and read emotions that people's minds broadcast whether I try to or not, and it has been many, many years since everything has been this quiet. What a truly marvelous ability you have."

"Th-thanks," Jimmy said, looking up at the older mutant.

Sharon smiled. "Jimmy, I have to go now. I hope you like it here. If you ever need anything, let us know," she said, reaching out to slip a business card into his hand.

Jimmy took it and nodded, the morning sun glinting slightly off of his head – still shaved yet beginning to grow a dusting of hair back. "Thank you, Sharon." He said, blushing slightly, and as Sharon said her goodbyes to Xavier, Charles hid a smile at the obvious crush he had on the much older woman.

As the three cars pulled away, Charles slowly turned his wheelchair, gesturing for Jimmy to fall in step next to him. "Welcome to the School for Gifted Youngsters, Jimmy."

Jimmy's eyebrows rose. "This is actually the school? I thought it was just your house!"

Charles laughed. "As a matter of fact, it is both. I hardly needed this much space for myself, so what better use of the space than a school for fellow mutants?"

"It's big," Jimmy said, looking up at the vaulted ceiling of the entranceway.

"Yes, it is. But you get used to it."

Jimmy looked around as Xavier led him toward his office. "Where are all the kids?" He asked. He heard what sounded like a television playing down the hall, but it wasn't noisy like he'd expected, being used to public school himself.

Charles smiled, and offered him a seat as they entered the office. "I'm afraid you're arriving right at the end of a week-long break. Most students won't be getting back here until this afternoon and this evening. The only ones here right now are those who arrived early or those that did not travel back home."

"Oh." Jimmy said, nodding slightly. "So…. Um, what do we do now?"

Charles leaned back in his chair. "Well, I'll make sure an announcement goes around the school, letting people know we'll have a new face around here. I'll introduce you to the Professors tonight at dinner. We'll let you settle in a few days before we really get into anything, but I was wondering if you'd be willing to assist me on something important."

Jimmy looked at him uncertainly. "Uh, sure." He said.

"I was wondering if you would be willing to sit in with me for a few of my sessions with other students having trouble dealing with their mutations. I think your ability could be useful in helping them to gain control if they have some sort of idea what 'control' feels like after experiencing your nullifying ability."

Jimmy shrugged. "Sure, I guess, if they don't mind. I know some mutants I've met don't like being shut down by me."

"That would be excellent, I will be sure to get their agreement beforehand - Now, I've looked over your school records that Mr. Fury provided me, and I thought we could discuss a class schedule for you, and set some times to work on your powers. You're quite a smart student, and I think you'll do well here."

Jimmy blushed slightly. "Thanks. It was a bit harder the last year when I went to the lab and they had tutors. No friends to get in trouble with," he said, smiling lightly

Charles laughed, and then grabbed a folder he'd placed on his desk. "Indeed, that is something that home-schooling and tutoring sometimes cannot replace. Now, I see you like art. At the moment we have no formal class for that, but if you stay on for next semester, we're expanding the school and will have quite a few new classes, including art. But I'd like to talk to you about chemistry….."

* * *

Rahne Sinclair hummed a song softly to herself as she walked back from the student annex hall where she'd put all of her things. Her father, Reverend Thomas Craig, had dropped her off and spoken with the Professor for a few minutes, and said his goodbyes to her as she went to her room to unpack.

Her stomach growled, sounding much like her wolf form, and reminding her of why she was heading toward the kitchen. As she passed the door to the library, she was reminded that that was where she'd last seen Dani, and she wondered how her friend was doing.

Dani had befriended her not long after she'd begun school, and since then they'd been the best of friends – Rahne always enjoyed doing things with her. And aside from Sally, and now Sarah, she was one of the few good friends she had at the Institute.

Rahne was always shy around people she didn't know, and was slow to open up to others. And she felt far more comfortable opening up around other girls than with boys, due in part to her upbringing – before Xavier's, her father had had her attend private all-girls religious schools. Unfortunately with the advent of her mutation, those schools were reluctant to take her in, and her father had turned to Xavier, and the change to a coed school was a bit of a shock to her, although she was now getting used to it.

Rahne had wished she could have gone along with Dani to Colorado after Dani had invited her, but her father had told her she was too young to run off across the country on her own with a friend, being only thirteen-almost-fourteen.

Rahne moved into the kitchen, and went to the cabinet, getting out two slices of bread before she got several deli meats from the fridge and began to assemble a sandwich.

It was only when she finished and began to walk over to the tables that she realized she had been so zoned in on getting something to eat that she hadn't noticed one of the tables was already occupied by a young boy, not much older than her. His head was shaved, and it gave him an instantly noticeable appearance.

He looked up from the sandwich he was slowly eating, and smiled at her when he saw her start to walk over to the tables. "Hi," he said.

"Uh, h-hi," Rahne replied. "Yuir new here," she said hesitantly.

"Yeah, my name's Jimmy. Professor Xavier told me to get something to eat before he gives me a tour of the school. Just got here a little bit ago."

Rahne nodded, standing by his table. "I'm Rahne." She said.

"Nice to meet you. That's a neat name." He waited a few moments, and looked at her with a grin. "You don't have to stand there, you can sit down here if you want."

Rahne's eyes widened, and she blushed. "Och, I'm sorry." She said, putting the plate down, and sitting down quickly in front of him. While she was usually this awkward around others she didn't know, Professor Xavier had been working with her at overcoming her shyness, and talking with this boy might be a good step toward doing it, she thought to herself.

"W-where are ye from?" Rahne asked, her hands fidgeting in her lap before she consciously stilled them.

"Well, I'm from Ohio, actually. But this last year I lived in San Francisco. What about you?"

"I'm from Scotland. My father brought me over here when I became a mutant."

Jimmy smiled. "That's cool. Never been to Scotland before. How is it?"

"It's very nice. Much diff'ren' from here in the States. Mebbe a bit more rainy – I, I cannae describe it well. The people are much diff'ren' here. I dinnae get all of the American jokes and things like that – ye have a diff'ren' kind of humor here."

Jimmy laughed. "Yeah, I'll bet. I've watched some British comedies – I know that that's not really Scottish, but at least for that it was a lot different than our comedies."

Rahne took a bite of her sandwich, and he set his own down, too nervous about his new surroundings to eat much. "Do you like it here? At the school?"

"Aye," Rahne said, swallowing so she could talk. "It's a very nice place. I wasnae sure at first because it was very diff'ren' from the schools I went to in Scotland, but now I think I like it better here."

Jimmy nodded. "Yeah, it seems a bit different – unique, you know? I'm still not sure what to think but my mom wanted me to give it a try. I'm just…" He looked away for a moment.

"What's wrong?" Rahne asked.

He shook his head. "Sorry, I just hope that no one reacts badly to my mutation. I've… met other mutants and it really freaked them out."

Rahne set down her sandwich and looked at him. "Nae, I cannae think of anyone here that would do that. We all know what it's like to get that sort of reaction from other people. And it cannae be that bad, can it? It isnae visible at least – ye look normal t'me."

He shrugged. "I figured you might have noticed it…. I – my power turns off other mutants powers when they're around me."

Rahne frowned at that, her brow furrowing in concentration, and then her eyes widened when she realized she couldn't shape-shift to her wolf form. "Och, I dinnae notice it because my mutation isnae active. That is an interestin' ability. How far does it work?"

"Not very far. Maybe eight feet."

Rahne gave him a comforting smile. "So almost three meters." She mused softly to herself before replying. "I dinnae think people here won' like ye because of yuir mutation. There are actually some people that might really like it – some of us cannae control our mutations an' sometimes it make is very hard for them."

He smiled back. "Thanks. Uh, so what is your mutation?"

"Well," she said hesitantly, "I can shapeshift."

"Can I see?" Jimmy asked. "Y'don't have to," he quickly added.

Rahne shook her head, and stood up, walking backward until she was outside his range. "Is this far enough?"

Jimmy nodded. "It should be."

Rahne took a deep breath, and then concentrated, pulling on the wolf inside of her, bringing it to the surface. Jimmy's eyes lit up as she began to change in front of him, her jaw lengthening to a muzzle, the close-cropped reddish hair on her head spreading down and across her body, lengthening slightly as it did, her hands shifting into paws, until in mere moments, a reddish-brown wolf sat on its haunches in front of him in place of Rahne.

She stood from her crouch and walked forward on all fours until she hit the invisible bubble that surrounded him constantly, and she instantly reverted to human form, and stumbled slightly at the sudden shift, pushing herself up from her hands and knees before sitting back at the table.

"Wow," Jimmy breathed. "That's awesome. A _lot_ cooler than mine. You're like a werewolf!"

Rahne flinched visibly when he said that, and her eyes became shuttered, and her hands shook visibly where they rested on the table. "Nae, dinnae call me that. I'm just Rahne, not a werewolf. I... have nae had a good experience with that word." She said softly, remembering the wild mob that had chased her out of town and hounded her for days in the forest around her small town.

"Someone thought I was, an' decided to see if some of the myths about werewolves are true," she said, rubbing unconsciously at a whitish circular scar on her forearm where that single person of that mob had fired his silver bullet.

Jimmy's eyes widened when he put her words and the scar together and realized what she was talking about. "Oh! I- I'm sorry, I didn't know…"

Rahne took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment, and her hands stopped shaking. "S'alright. Ye couldnae have known."

He nodded slightly. "Just Rahne then. I won't mention that word anymore now, 'kay?"

Rahne smiled at that, and nodded. "Thank ye."

Jimmy toyed with his sandwich as she finished hers off. "How're the classes here. Any fun ones?"

Rahne shrugged. "I dunno. I like all of them. The teachers are all very good, very helpful, an' they teach well. Sometimes there are nae enough though, it seems. They are very overworked, but ProfessorXavier is hirin' a lot of new ones next fall."

She tapped her chin with a forefinger. "I think my fav'rite is probably Professor Gambit. He's new, an' he's very nice, an' funny. It's like he's a teacher, an' yet he's a friend, too – I dinnae know how to describe it. Right now he's teachin' shop and…" she lowered her voice. "I like it a lot better now than when Professor Summers taught it. I dinnae think he was as comfortable with the younger group like with the older kids."

She chewed on her lip. "Professor Logan substitutes sometimes, an' I like him too, but sometimes he makes the wolf part of me feel scared because he acts like a wolf too sometimes, an' he's much bigger than me." She said, a soft laugh in her voice.

Jimmy smiled, and then something over her shoulder caught his eye. She twisted around in her chair and saw Professor Xavier in the doorway to the kitchen. She blushed slightly, not sure when he'd come in, but she saw a large smile on his face as he watched them.

"Sorry to interrupt you two, but I came by to see if Jimmy would like a tour."

Jimmy nodded. "Sure." He glanced to Rahne. "It was nice t'meet you Rahne."

She smiled. "Nice meetin' ye too, Jimmy. I'll introduce ye to my friends later if ye like."

"That'd be great, thanks," he said, grabbing his plate.

Rahne grabbed the edge of his plate with a slight blush on her cheeks. "I-I can take care of it for ye, I'm puttin' mine away anyway."

Jimmy let her take the plate. "Thanks." He said, and began to walk over to Xavier.

As they left, Rahne let herself relax, and began to clean the plates – the Professor had been right, she mused, if she just let herself forget about the stress of talking to someone new, and just _talk_ as if she was speaking to one of her friends, it was a lot easier than she thought it would be.

* * *

Remy nudged open Rogue's door, a "goodnight" ready on his lips, but the room was empty, the only evidence that she'd been there a half-emptied duffel sitting on the bed.

They had gotten back to New York at around six, and Remy had treated Rogue, Dani, and Sarah to a meal at a small restaurant downtown before they had come back to the mansion. After that Rogue had disappeared, along with the others in her class, to study for the physics exam that they had tomorrow.

He frowned slightly, and decided she must not have gone to her room like he had thought. He had already tucked Sarah in several hours ago, and it was now past one o'clock in the morning.

He wandered down the hall, and down the stairs to the main floor, and stopped by the kitchen and living room with no luck, until he reached the library. He pushed open one of the large, wooden French doors, and nearly laughed out loud when he looked inside.

Kitty sat in an armchair, her physics book on her lap as she nodded off to sleep over it. Dani and Jubilee looked to be sound asleep, their heads angled back on the headrests of their own chairs.

Rogue had been lying on her stomach on the larger couch in the room when she had fallen asleep, her feet kicked up in the air, and her hands folded in front of her. Her book was open on the couch in front of her along with a notebook, and her pencil was still loosely grasped in the fingers of one hand while the side of her face rested on her other hand.

He shook his head, suppressing his laughter at the positions she and the others had fallen asleep in. He knelt down next to her, quietly closing the book and the notebook and setting them to the side of the couch. He gently pried the pencil from her fingers and placed it alongside the books.

He carefully turned her over onto her back, and slipped his arms under her knees and behind the small of her back and lifted her from the couch. Her head lolled to the side against his chest as he slowly made his way out of the room, and carried her upstairs.

As he reached her room, Rogue suddenly jerked in his arms, and her eyes snapped open, revealing a familiar hint of blue around the irises. He almost dropped her in shock, but managed to keep his grip.

"Remy?" Carol asked, looking around in confusion as he let her down onto her own feet.

"Sorry, Carol. Rogue looked a bit uncomfortable dere, an' like she was way too worried 'bout studyin' for dat test, so I figured I'd bring her to bed. Didn' 'spect you'd be takin' over."

She shook her head, blushing slightly. "It's alright. Rogue's been asleep for about an hour, and since it seemed to work pretty well last time we tried, I decided to take over and study while she sleeps, and I just finally decided to take over."

"Ah, sorry den, all her stuff's downstairs. I'll go get it for ya. Was goin' back down t'wake up all de rest of de over-achievers down dere."

Carol laughed and shook her head. "They really are. Sometimes it's good to know when you've had enough and you need to stop." She said. "Rogue, especially, needs to catch on before she works herself into exhaustion every day."

Remy nodded, grinning ruefully. "I'll keep tryin' de best I can t'make sure she don' overwork herself. I was thinkin' she'd went t'bed an hour or two ago. Didn' realize she was still worried 'bout dis test."

Carol shrugged. "Yeah. Don't know why though, it's not like she hasn't been studying on and off for most of the break."

Remy shook his head. "Okay, I'll go get de books for you. Jus' make sure she gets her sleep."

As Remy left the room, Carol glanced automatically to the mirror – it was strange seeing herself in someone else's body, but she was slowly starting to get used to it.

She walked over to the bed and flopped down, slowly pulling off the gloves Rogue wore, wondering how she could stand being covered up constantly. Rogue was stronger than her emotionally – she couldn't imagine living like she did – but even as strong as she was, her mutation seemed determined to beat her into submission, and she knew now that if Remy had not come to the mansion, there was a good chance that Rogue would have taken the cure, and Carol's psyche would have died with herself rather than having found a place in Rogue's mind.

She was grateful it was Rogue and not someone else that had had this power and had absorbed her – Rogue was completely understanding of Carol, and her occasional need to get out and experience things in a body, and willingly let her take control. Carol could still remember the giddiness of skiing days before, something she'd for a while thought she'd never experience again.

Carol carefully placed the gloves on the nightstand next to the bed, so they'd be easy for Rogue to find when she woke up in the morning, and was broken from her thoughts by Remy coming back through the door, a large physics text and notebook in his hands.

"Here y'go, Carol." He said, setting the books down. "Make sure _you_ get some sleep too – don' wan' to deal wit' two exhausted girls in de same body."

Carol chuckled, and folded her legs, sitting cross-legged on the bed. She looked down at the book, and then at her hands as Remy started to turn and leave, and an intriguing thought came to her.

"Wait," she said, grabbing his arm while he was still in reach. "Remy, could I try something with you?"

He stopped, and turned back. "_Oui_, sure. What is it?"

"Just…. Hold still," she said, slowly moving her/Rogue's bare hand toward his right cheek. "Let me know if it starts hurting you."

Remy stood in place, and let her hand settle on his cheek, more than used to it from Rogue. What he wasn't used to, was the complete lack of… anything. No tingling, no absorption, no pull at his powers.

Carol let her hand remain there for nearly a minute, her eyes wide. "Am- am I absorbing you, Remy?"

He shook his head. "_Non_, not one bit."

She grinned, looking breathless. "Wow, this is – this might be what we've been looking for. I'll tell Rogue when she wakes up, and we can talk to Professor Xavier. If all it takes is another psyche taking over, maybe he can help her learn something to trick her brain into thinking she's a different psyche."

Remy's eyes widened at the implications, and then grinned. "Good idea. I ain' sure how all dem psychic things work, but if anyone could do it, it'd be Xavier. But… don' get her hopes up too much 'case it don' work."

Carol's expression sobered. "You're right. I'll just tell her what I discovered, and say we should talk to Xavier about it, and not mention anything he might be able to do." She glanced back up to Remy, and smiled. "Thanks for bein' my guinea pig – well, I guess _our_ guinea pig."

Remy bowed exaggeratedly. "Any time, _ma'moiselle_," he said. "Tell Rogue I said goodnight."

Carol laughed as he exited the room, and then turned to the ominously large physics text, and slowly cracked it open to the page Rogue had left off at. _Time to fry our brain with Newton's Laws_, she thought, ignoring the fact that Rogue couldn't hear her at the moment.

* * *

Carol yawned, and looked blearily at the clock, which read seven-thirty. She tapped the blaring alarm clock off, and set down the physics book onto the bed. She leaned back, resting against the bed, and let her self fall down the mental link to Rogue's mindscape.

Rogue must have heard the alarm in its brief shrillness, because she was getting up from the spot she had been lying in, underneath the shade of one of the recovering trees (now becoming more numerous with each session they had together) of her mindscape.

"Hey sleepyhead," Carol greeted, and Rogue looked up, a smile and a yawn mixing together on her face.

"Hey. It time t'get up?" Rogue asked.

Carol nodded. "Yep, just turned seven-thirty. Plenty of time for you to get a big breakfast and make sure you absorbed everything I worked on last night."

Rogue smiled. "Thanks, Carol. Ah shoulda done more durin' break, so thanks for helpin' me out."

Carol shrugged. "No problem." She hesitated then. "Remy came by to say goodnight. Actually was carrying you to your room when I took over."

Rogue blushed and hid a smile. "I'll have t'thank him for that. Not that ah need t'come up with a reason to kiss him."

Carol bit her lower lip. "Rogue, I tried something – an experiment – with Remy last night before he went to bed. I… touched his skin without your gloves on, and, well, I didn't absorb him. Nothing happened – it felt normal."

Rogue's eyes widened. "Really? How… how long did you do it?"

"At least a minute. Remy said he didn't feel it either. I thought maybe after your test today, we could go talk to Professor Xavier about it, and see what he thinks, see if it could help you."

Rogue smiled. "Ah hope he can do somethin' with this. Ah – thanks for thinkin' of that, I'da never thought to try it."

Carol shrugged. "No problem. Guess two heads are better than one – or two minds at least," she said with a grin. "The reason you never would have thought of it is you're so used to living with your powers, but I'm not and that gives me a different perspective."

Rogue nodded, and gave Carol a brief hug. "Still, thanks. Ah hope this helps. Ah better get goin'. Remy's probably already got a huge breakfast goin' for me."

Carol smiled, and sat down in the spot Rogue had been lying in. "Alright, see you later. I'm gonna get some rest," she said as Rogue disappeared from the mindscape.

* * *

Remy killed the engine of his motorcycle, and set up the kickstand. He pulled off his helmet, and ran a hand through his hair. He shifted in the sat so he was only leaning against it, with both of his feet shifted to one side of the motorcycle, and looked curiously around the buildings of the Community College campus, seeing students come and go from building to building.

A car pulled up behind where he'd parked and he turned to look at it when the driver's door opened. "Hey Cajun," Logan said, nodding to him. "Didn't expect t'see you here."

He closed the door to the van he'd just parked, and walked over to Remy.

Remy shrugged. "Figured I'd pick Rogue up an' make it less crowded for you takin' dem back from de test." He ran his eyes appraisingly over the school minivan Logan had "volunteered" to drive – or rather Charles had convinced him – so that everyone went in one vehicle rather than one for each person.

Remy smirked. "Charles's gettin' you started on y'transformation inta a soccer mom, eh?"

Logan growled. "Don't even start, or I'll get him an' 'Ro to double team _you_ about driving them for their final's week."

Remy looked at him with a horrified expression, and then mimed zipping up his mouth and tossing a key over his shoulder. "_Non_, I'm done. No startin' from me," he said with a grin.

Logan laughed and shook his head. "So how was yer trip? You guys have fun?"

Remy nodded, his fingers tapping unconsciously against the seat of the bike. "_Oui_. We had a great time. Sarah an' Rogue both had a blast on de slopes, an' Dani's parents were fun t'hang around with. Went ridin' out on their ranch, too."

Logan nodded. "Good." He tilted his head slightly. "That sound's like the bell," he said, listening to something Remy could not hear.

And less than a minute later, the doors to the Physics department building in front of them opened, and a large crowd of students began to exit, finished with either their test or with whatever class they had been in.

Finally they saw Dani, Rogue, Sam, and the others walking out in a group, talking animatedly amongst themselves. Remy grinned, seeing Rogue's face light up when she saw him as they neared the street where Remy and Logan stood.

She finished what she had been saying, and then walked quickly over to him, tossing her arms around him. "Remy," she said, "Ah didn' know you were comin'."

He leaned down and kissed her nose. "Figured I'd surprise you. Give you a ride back," he said, tapping a second helmet he'd strapped to the seat behind him on the way there. "How'd your test go?"

She bit her lower lip, and shrugged. "Okay, Ah guess. Not as good as Ah wanted to, but probably at least a B. Mah brain feels like it's baked, though."

She turned in his arms to wave to the others who were piling into the van, and she shot a smile at Logan. "See ya back at the mansion, Logan. Thanks for givin' us a ride out here."

"See ya." Logan said, smirking at the two of them before he turned back to the van with a sigh.

Rogue giggled softly as he drove away. "Poor Logan. You can tell he feels like a chauffer now."

Remy chuckled. "Jus' don' let him hear you say dat. I tol' him he was becomin' a soccer mom, an' he wasn' too pleased 'bout dat."

Rogue laughed, almost uncontrollably at that, envisioning Logan as a doting soccer mom. She caught her breath, leaning her head against Remy's chest, and stayed there, quietly.

"Alrigh'," Remy said softly, "You ready to go? Figured we'd take de scenic route back."

Rogue nodded against his chest. "That sounds good," she said, pulling back.

Remy unstrapped her helmet and handed it to her and then slid his own on. He straddled the bike, and settled in contentedly as Rogue climbed on, pressing closely against him.

He started the bike, and patted her hands where they'd slid around his chest, making sure she was ready. She nodded against his chest, and he slowly drove the bike through the campus, stopping for the crowds of students to cross at the numerous crosswalks on the way off the main campus.

Finally he was able to pick up speed, and took the back road out of the campus, away from the main highway that was the usual route back to the Institute, and ran along several roads until they reached a country road that circled around the city and eventually toward the Institute.

Remy suddenly slowed, and took a small road off, entering a small state park, and parked in one of the few parking spots. He climbed off, and Rogue already had her helmet off, looking at him quizzically.

He grinned, and took the helmet from her, setting it on the seat of the bike alongside his own. "C'mon," he said softly and grabbed her hand, pulling her toward a bench that faced the woodlands of the park.

He sat down, and pulled her down next to him, letting her settle her head against his shoulder before putting his arm around her and pulling her closer. "Figured you could use some time away from school after dat test, an' I couldn' resist spending some time alone wit' _ma Chére_," Remy murmured next to her ear.

Rogue shivered at his warm breath, and then shifted on the bench so she was lying on her back, her head on his lap, looking up at his sunglass-covered eyes.

She reached up, tipping his shades up enough so that she could see his eyes. "Thanks, this's really nice. Ah'm glad Ah have such a sweet boyfriend."

Remy smiled, and his hand found her forehead, brushing against it gently. Looking up under the bottom of his sunglasses, she could see his eyes noticeably darken in color, becoming a much deeper red on top of the black as he looked down at her. "I'm glad I've got _you_, _Chére_. Always take care of you."

Rogue closed her eyes, drinking in the warm sun on her skin, and the spring breeze, and she grabbed his hand in her own, brought it up to her lips, and pressed kisses to his palm.

She sighed contentedly, and smiled up at him, her eyelids cracked open slightly to see him. "How'd yah know about this place, Remy?" She asked softly.

Remy smiled slightly. "Happened on dis place on m'way to de mansion. Back after I got shot an' landed in de river. Went backroads all de way toward de mansion, an' happened on dis place. Actually sat on dis very bench an' took a rest, an' decided I really liked it here." He looked off into the forest, his voice slightly bitter when he mentioned the trip to the mansion.

Rogue smiled softly, and reached up to brush his cheek with the back of her gloved hand. "Yah know no one blames you for what happened, right Remy?"

He nodded, and she saw the muscles of his jaw tighten slightly, and then he sighed, grabbing her hand and squeezing it tightly. "I know. 'Least anyone that knows so far. I gotta tell Sarah eventually – can' hide somethin' like dat from her forever. _Dieu_, she's gonna hate me." He said softly, and Rogue was shocked to see a tear trickle down his cheek.

She sat up quickly, contorting her arm so she could keep grasping his hand, and she leaned up against him, kissing his cheek. "No, she's not. Ah'll bet she already has a damn good idea of what really happened – yah already tol' her what it is yah did for a livin', an' it ain' that hard to guess how yah knew ta go down there and save her. She's so smart, Ah'm sure she's already connected most of th'dots, Remy. An Ah don' think she could ever hate yah. She loves yah to pieces."

Remy nodded slightly, and then blinked rapidly, letting Rogue pull him into a closer embrace. "M'sure you're right, but, still worries me, y'know?"

She kissed his cheek again, her lips hovering near his ear. "Ah know. But yah don' have anythin' t'worry about."

Remy sighed, and closed his eyes, "I hope you're right, _Chére_."

Rogue smiled, and hugged him. "Of course Ah am. Ah'm th'woman here, an' that means Ah'm always right. Didn' your _Tante_ teach you that?"

She gave a mental sigh of relief when that drew a chuckle out of him. "_Oui,_ I seem to remember dat one pretty clearly."

"Good." She said, looking at him with a faux haughty expression. "Ah wouldn' want t'have to take mah time teachin' that to yah."

Remy laughed, and she could feel the vibration of it in his chest against the back of her head. "You're _une si belle femme_, _Chére_. Y'know dat, right?"

Rogue blushed darkly at that, and turned, burying her face in his chest.

He grinned, and tucked his chin over the top of her head. "Specially when you're blushin'."

"You're not half bad y'self, _Sugah_," she mumbled into his chest – unable to understand how it was that he could affect her so with just a simple compliment.

"Sugar?" Remy asked, an eyebrow rising.

Rogue dared to look up as she felt her cheeks cool down. "Yeah. Just sorta clicked. Yah not like it?"

Remy shook his head and smiled. "S'fine. I get t'call you _ma Chére_, so I guess it's only fair."

Rogue smiled, and buried her face in his chest again. "Ah-" She broke off. "Thanks for bringin' me here, Remy."

"Y'welcome. We can come here whenever you want if y'just wanna get away from school."

"Ah'd like that," she said.

"Speakin' of bringin' you somewhere, I feel like a bad boyfriend – We 'been together two weeks an' we've only been on one date. So… you doin' anythin' tomorrow night?" Remy said.

Rogue shook her head against his chest. "No, Ah'm completely free. Where'd yah have in mind?"

Remy grinned, and winked at her. "Dat's a surprise. I been plannin' it all break. Jus' wear somethin' nice, an' meet me in de garage at six."

Rogue rolled her eyes at his secrecy, and settled back against him. "Alright. Already lookin' forward to it, even if y'won' tell me where we're goin'."

Remy pressed his lips against the nape of her neck. "Y'know, _Chére, _I think we been doin' way to much talkin', an' not enough unwindin'. I don' want you still havin' a baked brain on our date t'morrow," he said, his lips curving upward against her skin as he felt the tingle of her powers kicking in.

"Ah think you're right," Rogue said, almost breathlessly, and twisted in his arms so that his lips were easily accessible, and pulled him into a deep kiss, that she knew would unfortunately end far too soon for her liking.

* * *

"I must say that is a very intriguing idea," Charles said, nodding to Carol. "Unfortunately, the thing with shortcuts, mainly when you are talking about something as complex and complicated as the mind, is that they often come back to haunt you sooner or later."

He sighed, and rubbed his forehead, looking at Rogue from where he stood in her mindscape. "Changing your psychic signature to trick your mind into thinking you are another psyche could very well work. You could easily not be affected by your powers, which we've found to be mentally triggered."

"The problem is," he continued, "is that in time your mind would come to resent its lack of control and the taking over by another psyche, and would likely begin to attack itself, much in the way that in an autoimmune disease, the body mistakes itself for something foreign and attacks itself. And I think that while perhaps it could give you a year or two of control, the response by your mind against itself could damage it beyond repair, and you would lose all possibility of control – along with the possibility of brain damage."

Rogue paled. "Well… Ah'd say that's out. Figured it wouldn' end up workin'," she said with a hint of disappointment in her voice.

Xavier nodded, smiling sadly. "It was an excellent idea though. Don't hesitate to bring things like this to me, either of you. The worst that can happen is a bit of disappointment if it won't work."

Rogue nodded, and looked away for a moment, the fingers of her hands fidgeting together. "Thanks for hearin' it out, Professor."

"You're quite welcome. I'm more than happy to listen to any of your suggestions. I'm not some all-knowing person like many seem to view me as – I learn things all the time from my students. Frankly I hadn't even thought of this before you brought it up."

He smiled, and nodded to Carol. "If there's nothing else, I should be going. The first day back after a break is always quite hectic for me, especially now that we have several new students here. I shudder to think what it will be like when we open fully in August," he said, a wry smile on his face.

Rogue nodded, and stood up from where she sat next to Carol. "Ah'll go back with yah."

Carol waved, and then mouthed 'Sorry' to Rogue who smiled gratefully at her and shook her head, mouthing an 'It's okay' back, before Rogue and Xavier disappeared from the mindscape.

Carol frowned, shoved her hands in her pants pockets, and wandered aimlessly off into the forest, disappointed her idea hadn't helped Rogue.

* * *

Rogue blinked as she returned to control of her body, and looked up to Xavier who pulled his hand back from where it had rested on her arm.

Xavier frowned slightly when she remained silent. "Rogue, I need to head down to try to catch Ororo before she starts class – would you mind walking me there?"

"Sure," Rogue said, standing up, and falling into step with him.

"While you might be disappointed by this, you should know that each time you come to me for one of our sessions, I've been pleasantly surprised at the progress you and Carol have made in healing your mind. I think that if you keep it up like you have been, it could very well be not very long until you achieve what this idea would have given you only temporarily."

Rogue nodded unconvincingly, and he knew she thought he was trying to just cheer her up, so he continued. "I'm quite serious about this, Rogue - Perhaps… I don't want to get your hopes up, but perhaps by the end of the year you could have conscious control of your absorption abilities. By that I mean, you can control it by thinking specifically about controlling it, and for more than a few minutes. Unconscious control where thought is not needed, especially while you are sleeping, will likely take longer but you've improved more in the past month than we have since you arrived here."

Rogue glanced over to him, surprised by his comments – she knew he'd been impressed by how she fought off Jean's dark psyche, but hadn't realized how much progress he thought they were making.

He cleared his throat. "Aside from unconscious control, I think there may be more to your powers than absorption to be developed in the future, as we've seen with your retention of Carol's powers. Perhaps the ability to recall the abilities of _all_ those you've absorbed in the past. After all, there likely _is_ a reason those psyches still remain in your mind."

Rogue pursed her lips, a thoughtful look on her face. "Thanks for tellin' me that, Professor" she said softly, "Ah hadn't thought Ah was gettin' that far – an' Ah haven't really thought of other things mah powers could do."

Xavier smiled, "Give it some thought. And I wouldn't say what I did if I didn't think you were improving." Then he sighed when they reached the closed doors of a classroom. "It looks like I'll have to catch Ororo after _this_ class," he said, seeing her already talking animatedly to the students that sat at the desks in front of her.

He smiled when he spotted Dani down the hall. "I need to talk to Danielle, anyway," he said.

Rogue nodded, and smiled back to Xavier. "Alright. Ah'll see yah later, Professor. Next session is Friday?"

"Yes, just before lunch, if I recall correctly. Have a good afternoon, Rogue."

"Thanks, yah too," she said, waving, and walking off toward the kitchen, while he directed his wheelchair down the hall to intercept Dani.

"Miss Moonstar, do you have a moment?" he asked, causing her to stop in front of him, several books clasped in arms folded across her chest.

"Sure," she said. "Just got some homework to do, but that's not due till Wednesday, and I'm still recovering from that Physics test."

Charles grinned. "Tough?" He asked. "Rogue said it was harder than she thought it would be."

Dani nodded. "Yeah, it was hard. It was lie they took the homework, which was tough enough, and then supersized it. But I think I did alright. At least a 'B'."

"Good," he said. "When you all get your tests back, you should bring them to one of our group sessions and we can look them over and try to pinpoint what is most difficult for you, and we can work on them."

Dani nodded, and then he continued. "But that actually wasn't what I wanted to talk to you about," he said as they reached the end of the hall, near the entrance to the large arboretum classroom.

"Okay, what's up, Professor?"

"I spoke with Rahne's father yesterday when he dropped her off, and scanned his mind after you told me of your worries."

Dani's eyes widened, remembering Rogue had talked her into calling Xavier during the break about her worries about the way Rahne's father treated her. "Did you…. was he doing anything…?"

Charles shook his head. "No, thankfully. While he appears to be a rather…. strict, and religious authoritarian when it comes to discipline and how he instructs Rahne to behave, I could find no evidence that he has ever verbally or physically abused her."

Dani let out a breath that she hadn't realized she had been holding. "Good," she said quietly. "Thank you for looking into it, I just – I was hoping it was something like that but I was a little worried…"

Charles nodded in understanding. "I'm glad you brought it to me – it's worse to say nothing and be right in something like this than it is to say something and have your suspicions shown to be wrong. I did notice he wasn't completely comfortable with the fact that Rahne is a mutant, but then, sadly, few parents are."

Dani nodded, relieved that Rahne wasn't being treated badly like she'd feared.

Charles smiled. "Speaking of understanding parents, how are yours? Did you enjoy Colorado?"

Dani grinned. "Yeah, it was fun, and my parents are fine. Daddy told me to say hi."

Charles nodded. "Tell him I hope he and Peg are doing well."

"I will," Dani said.

Charles nodded toward his office. "I have some paperwork to take care of for getting our accreditation for next year – I just wanted to make sure you knew Rahne's fine."

Dani smiled. "Thank you Professor." She said, stopping at the kitchen door, turning the corner to go inside once he'd left.

* * *

Bobby looked up at the knock on his door, hoping it was Kitty. He'd talked to her only briefly since she'd come back, and something had seemed wrong – off – about her behavior.

He was surprised, and speechless, when he opened the door to find Rogue standing there.

"Bobby," she said softly, "could we talk?"

"U-uh, yeah. C-come on in," Bobby said, moving back from the door and gesturing into the room.

Rogue nodded, and entered the room, glancing around – nothing much had changed since the last time she'd been here. She walked over to his desk, and turned the chair around, sitting down on it while Bobby moved to the bed and sat on the end of it.

"Sooooo…" Rogue said slowly, visibly uncomfortable. "Um, R-Gambit tol' me yah talked t'him b'fore break. Said yah wanted t'talk with me."

Bobby nodded, and looked down at his hands. "Rogue, I… I know it probably sounds empty to you, but I wanted to apologize for…. For everything that happened. I shouldn't have done it, I should have kept my hormones in check, and I'm really sorry that you found out like that."

Rogue regarded him with an unreadable expression, sitting straight up in the chair during his apology, and wrapped her arms around her midsection protectively.

She remained quiet for several minutes, before she spoke with a slightly trembling voice. "Bobby, Ah…. What happened, it hurt me so bad. To see you like that, and hear you…. If Ah hadn't had Gambit supportin' me through all this, Ah think it would've broken me. Ah probably would've taken the Cure or… maybe somethin' worse."

Bobby nodded, casting his eyes down once more. "I know, and it was unacceptable for me to do what I did. All I can do is apologize – I'm really sorry. And… I'm glad you had someone there for you. Even if it was the Cajun."

Rogue was quiet again before she looked up and placed her hand over his. "Ah accept yah apology, Bobby. An' Ah'm sorry for anythin' Ah did that hurt you or pushed you away."

Bobby's expression relaxed at hearing that. "Thank you," he breathed.

Rogue nodded. "Ah… Ah think we made better friends than we did boyfriend and girlfriend. It seemed great at first but Ah think we were just forcin' somethin' that wasn' there."

"I think so too." Bobby said.

Rogue looked up at him. "Ah liked it back when we were jus' friends, Bobby. Can we still be that?"

Bobby smiled slightly and nodded. "Yeah, I'd like that. How about we start all over, knowing now that we won't work romantically together? I'm Bobby Drake," he said, sticking out his hand toward her.

Rogue grinned, and shook his hand with her gloved one. "Hi, nice tah meet yah, Bobby. Ah'm Rogue."

Bobby laughed softly, and pulled his hand back onto his lap and looked at her seriously. "Are you happy? With Gambit?"

Rogue's eyes seemed to focus somewhere in the distance at that question, and then she smiled, and nodded. "Yeah. Ah am. Happier then Ah've ever been."

Bobby smiled ruefully. "Good." His eyes sparkled when he remembered something else. "Oh, and thank you for talking Logan out of disemboweling me."

Rogue laughed, and stood up from the chair. "No problem. Ah should go now, though. Ah'm glad we talked like this."

"Me too. Good luck with Gambit. Maybe he can give you what I couldn't."

Rogue's eyes softened at that, and she nodded, backing out the door, a feeling of immense relief in her heart over settling things with Bobby.

* * *

_**A/N: **__Hey, hope you guys enjoyed this one. Sort of a final wrapping up of the break (sorry for Rahne's Scottish accent – it probably turned out horrible – never written one before so it was hard to figure out the best way to write it)._

_Next chapter perhaps a bit more action (I think), but yet plenty of interactions at the Mansion. Lorna meets Rogue. Perhaps a Romy date. :)_

_Thanks for the reviews last time, see you guys next chapter!_


	25. Chapter 25: Meeting

_**Disclaimer: X-Men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-Men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway ;)**_

_A/N: Hey everyone, I believe this may be the longest chapter yet! Thanks for all the feedback, you guys are great. On with the story! _

**Chapter 25: Meeting**

* * *

A figure cloaked in shadows crept in the dead of the night through the woods behind the large mansion that was home to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters – a mutant school and training ground. It was a tall figure, and if anyone had been watching there would have been little doubt that the figure was a man.

The man slipped over a fence at the edge of the property – it was a relatively simple fence, barbed wire, with electric wiring running along each strand, each a pressure sensor. It was an easy task to climb a nearby tree – an enormous oak that had likely stood in its place for over a hundred years – take a running leap along one of its larger limbs, and clear the five-foot tall fence and land on the soft forest soil on the other side.

The man snorted with disgust and shook his head – the ease thus far was astounding. He broke into a careful run, closing the distance to the mansion over a mile ahead through the forest within seven minutes.

The man paused, one knee bent to the ground, and surveyed the opening of the forest into the back lawn of the mansion as he caught his breath from the run.

He licked his lips which had become dry during the run, and straightened his backpack, before he began slipping across the lawn, aware of two security cameras perched on either corner of the back roof, slipping from cover to cover while remaining in their blind spots.

It was slow work, waiting until they panned enough that he could slip to the next dark cover – fortunately it was a new moon, so the only light that lit the lawn were the small floodlights surrounding the building, and the dim stars peeking through a partly cloudy sky.

He slipped past the inner range of the left camera, and relaxed slightly as he pulled off his pack and placed it on the floor next to him. He knelt in front of a panel on the wall, and gently pried it off, revealing an intricate maze of wiring.

He traced out the wiring with his fingers, until he determined which controlled the internal security system. A simple snipping of the wires with a bypass to a small device he had taken with him in the pack left the security system on the doors and windows off, but unable to tell the computer at the center of the system that it _was_ off.

He hopped up onto the back step, and a minute of lock-picking sprung the glass back door open, and he slipped inside, closing it behind him. The inside of the house was dead, every light off, and not a sound to be heard.

His black clothes hid him in the shadows as he slipped down the hall, to a set of stairs that led down. He padded noiselessly down them, and the décor of the hall changed on the floor he found himself at, the walls steel – not wood-paneled – and modern.

He stopped by one door, and entered, finding the large infirmary. He walked over to the most expensive looking machines, and his hand dipped into his sack, pulling out a puttylike white material that he shaped and slapped onto one of the machines, before placing a small cap with a blinking red light into the substance.

He moved out of the room, sliding into a breathtakingly large hangar, and he proceeded to place the same material on the landing gear of each jet that resided in the hangar.

He was gone in moments, already moving to the door at the end of the hall. This one required some sort of code, so he brought out his electronic code breaker, hooking up the leads and letting it begin to run its brute force cracking of the code to the door.

He let it run, moving down a level to a control room to an enormous, empty room. More substance was placed on the controls, another cap inserted into it once he'd shaped it as he wanted.

He slipped back up the stairs just as it finished cracking the code, and the doors slid open, an electronic voice greeting: "Welcome, Professor."

The enormous spherical room around him was not of interest to him – the panel on the end of the walkway into the room was, and he fitted more substance to the bottom of the panel.

He moved back out of the room and then closed the door, and collected his device, which he slid back into the outer pocket of the backpack. He moved back upstairs, his breathing silent as he listened for any hint that anyone was about, and he moved about the lower part of the building, finding support beams of the building that kept it standing, and placing the rest of his supply of the putty-like substance around each one.

He smiled and nodded with satisfaction as the last cap was inserted into the last few grams of the substance on the central support beam.

The man crept up the stairs, and moved down the halls, past door after door, each room occupied by unsuspecting students. He reached the top floor, where his reconnaissance had told him the actual mutant team stayed.

He slowly turned the knob to one door, and opened it noiselessly, slipping into the room. And then he was staring down at a woman with brilliant-white hair, messed up in her sleep.

He continued to several other rooms, none of his victims realizing he was even in the room until it was too late. A young Native American girl, a pretty brown-haired girl, a blond-haired young man, all slept as he entered their rooms.

The next one was much different. As the man slid the door open, the dark-haired man inside the room jerked from his slumber at the sound, and seemed to sniff the air. Then he growled.

Long, glinting silvery claws sprang from the dark-haired man's hands, and in a flash he was at the door, lunging at the shadowy man who'd opened his door.

The man dodged back, rolling into a somersault, as the clawed man's claws whistled through the air near his head. On his back, his legs snapped outward, catching the clawed man in the chest, knocking him physically back into the room.

The clawed man grunted, and his eyes snapped to something inside his room. His palm slapped down hard on the emergency alarm, and a slowly crescendoing siren filled the air, and the hall lights flickered on, giving him a better view of the shadowy man.

He began to lunge again as people started to stumble from their rooms, but a slim device with a button on the top appeared in the dark-clothed man's hand. He flipped back the cap, and pressed the button before the clawed-man could even reach him.

"Bang, we're dead." The man said, tipping back a pair of dark sunglasses he wore, revealing red-on-black eyes.

The clawed-man, Logan, slid to a stop, when he realized it was Remy, narrowly avoiding eviscerating him. "What the hell, Cajun? You don't smell…."

Remy nodded as the hall filled. "Took a nice long shower an' covered myself wit' a new cologne. Gave ya the best edge I could."

Logan growled, and rubbed his forehead, his adamantium claws retracting into his knuckles. "I take it this was your test?" He asked.

Remy nodded - he had told him, before the break, that he would try to test their current system, and then see how he could improve it, but he'd been deliberately silent on when, so that it would be like a real-life attack on the mansion.

"And from the sound of it we didn't do very well?" Charles asked, his wheelchair rolling up the hall to him.

Remy shook his head. "_Non_. De security is even worse den I thought. I wish I'd realized it before. It was a breeze slippin' in, an' none of de important stuff downstairs is protected. I got 'bout ten pounds of modeling clay, an' some bottle caps to stand in for C-4 an' blastin' caps, an if dis had been a real trigger," he said, waving the click-pen he'd clicked in moments before, "not only would all de electronics downstairs be blown to hell, but de mansion would be fallin' down right now wit' what I put on all de support beams."

"An' it seems like de only one that sleeps light is Logan here. I been through half dis level, coulda taken y'all in your sleep." he said.

"Sorry for wakin' y'all up," Remy said to those gathered in the hall. "Dis was just a drill. You can all go back t'bed."

Rogue, who'd moved to stand next to Remy during his conversation with Logan and Xavier, squeezed his hand and walked over to Sarah's room where Sarah stood in the doorway watching the commotion with wide eyes. "C'mon, sweetie, it was just Remy. Let's get you back to bed." Remy shot her a grateful look, and she smiled back before grabbing Sarah's hand and leading her back into her room.

'_Shit, hope she doesn't get nightmares from this on top of her regular ones,_' Remy thought with a curse – he hadn't expected Logan to turn on the emergency alarm and wake everyone up.

Ororo, Dani, Jubilee, Kitty, and the rest of the older students moved down the hall and down to the other floors, reassuring the students, and getting them to return to their beds.

Remy turned to Logan and Charles. "Really – dis was bad. Only a stumblin' idiot would have been caught by dis system." Remy paused. "Well, maybe not quite _dat_ bad, but any pro would have gotten through jus' like I did."

Charles sighed, and rubbed his forehead. "Sadly, this is what has been installed since the mansion was attacked a few months ago. I'm not exactly 'up' on what a good system is, so I paid for one I thought looked the best."

Remy shook his head. "Might've been de best dey had, but it ain' de best you can get. We gotta get goin' on upgradin' dis. It might take a few months, but it'll be worth it t'keep all of us safe as we can here. Let me look into some stuff, an' I'll get some prices to you, an' we can order de equipment. Logan an' I can install it?" He said, looking questioningly to Logan, who nodded in agreement.

"You show me how, an' I can do it, Cajun. Thanks for stayin' up an' doing this for us tonight." Logan said

Remy shook his head. "No problem at all. I got Sarah livin' here, an' I want t'make sure she's safe as she can be. Rogue I'm not worried 'bout as much – she can take care of herself wit' Carol's powers, but Sarah ain' invincible, an' neither are any of my other friends here. 'Cept maybe you," he said, nodding to Logan.

Remy sighed. "Alrigh', sorry again for wakin' y'all up. I'll clean things up, an' get started tomorrow makin' some calls an' getting a price for de system. If we can't afford it, I'll scrounge up some of my own money from my stashes t'help out."

Charles nodded. "Actually, I think we should be able to, with – well, let's leave that for tomorrow. I received a very interesting proposition the other day, and I need to speak with both of you about it, but let's get a full night's sleep first."

Remy nodded, and Charles wheeled back down the hall to help the others get the younger children back to sleep. Logan raised his eyebrow at him. "Sorry for almost guttin' you. Nice move disguisin' your scent. Really thought you were someone else. So, you want help cleanin' up?"

Remy smiled, and nodded. "Sure. I'll take care of de stuff I put in de basements, you get de stuff on de main floor. Y'should be able to smell dem all out."

Logan nodded. "Alright, bub. I'll drop it off outside your room. Then I'm goin' back to sleep."

Ten minutes later, Remy had repaired the cut he'd made on the security wiring outside, and collected his "C4" charges from the subbasements, and made his way upstairs where, like promised, Logan had set the modeling clay from the main floor in front of his door.

Remy grabbed it, shoving it into his bag, which he tossed onto his bed. Then he sighed, and changed into a clean set of clothes, and made his way toward Sarah's room.

He could hear the soft voices of Rogue and Sarah from inside, and he slowly opened the door.

Rogue and Sarah looked up at him, Sarah from her spot tucked into her bed, and Rogue over her shoulder from where she sat at the edge of the bed, holding Sarah's hand.

"Hey," Remy breathed, kissing Rogue's forehead, before moving to the other side of the bed next to Sarah.

"Didn' mean t'wake you up, _ma mignonne_," Remy said quietly.

Sarah smiled slightly and shook her head. "It's okay, Remy. I just – Rogue told me why the alarm went off. That's a little scary that someone can break in like that."

Remy nodded seriously. "_Oui_, it is. It scared me how easy it was for me to do it, an' how easy it would be for someone else t'do it."

He squeezed her hand. "But don' worry, _petite_, I did it t'see how good de system is, an' I'm gonna help dem upgrade it so we're safer here."

Sarah nodded slightly, and smiled. "Good. Then no one can get in, because you're the best."

Remy chuckled, and shook his head. "_Non,_ I can't make it so dey can't get in. But I can make it so we know dat someone's comin' a long ways away. Make it as safe as I c'n for you, _petite_."

Sarah bit her lip, and then nodded. "Okay, Remy."

She looked up at him and Rogue with pleading eyes. "Can you stay until I fall asleep?"

Remy nodded, and shifted on the bed so he was sitting with his back to the headrest next to her.

Rogue did the same with a smile, and brushed her gloved hand over Sarah's cheek. "Sure, sweetie, we'll stay."

Rogue yawned slightly as she padded toward the living room. She'd gotten little sleep after she and Remy had waited until Sarah fell back to sleep, and it was not for lack of trying. Her sleep had been fitful, and as a result she was already up at six in the morning – perhaps during her open afternoon she could take a nap to be rested up for the date Remy had planned for them, she thought to herself.

She thought for a moment about going to the kitchen, but her stomach protested that – she rarely was hungry this early in the morning, especially when she'd just woken up, so she decided instead to see if there was anything on besides early morning news.

She paused in the doorway of the living room when she saw the light on, and saw the room already occupied by someone sitting in one of the armchairs, the TV on at a low, almost audible volume from Rogue's position at the door.

A young woman – at first glance she didn't look much older than Dani, Jubilee, or Rogue herself – with brilliant green hair sat on the chair, biting her lower lip in concentration, the tip of her tongue visible at one corner of her lips. Her palm of her right hand was outstretched on her lap, and mere inches above her hand hovered a silvery-metallic spinning-top – the kind Rogue played with as a child – which was rotating slowly in the air.

As Rogue watched, a second top wobbled unsteadily up from the woman's lap, and slowly lowered down to rest on the other top, and then jumped up to hover an inch above it and begin to spin slowly as well, in the opposite direction of the first. Both wobbled considerably more when a third top began to rise from her lap to join them.

As the third came to rest on the second, and as it started to spin, all three tumbled out of control, and fell to her lap with a clatter. An aggravated sigh escaped her lips, and the heel of her hand pounded the arm of the chair. "Damnit," she said, clearly irritated.

Rogue tapped the fingers of one hand against the doorframe in a soft knock, and the woman's attention was finally drawn to the fact that there was someone else in the room.

"Hey," Rogue said softly, a tentative smile on her face. "Mind if I come in?"

The woman shook her head, a hint of pink in her cheeks at the realization that someone had witnessed her outburst, and spoke to the girl with an interesting streak of white in the bangs of her otherwise brown hair. "No, come on in. Not doin' much anyway."

"You must be Lorna," Rogue said, moving across the room to sit in a chair across from her, stretching out her gloved hand. "Ah'm Rogue."

Lorna shook her hand. "Nice to meet you…" She trailed off, mouthing Rogue's name to herself for a moment, her brow slightly furrowed. "Oh – Rogue! You're Remy's girlfriend."

Rogue forced herself not to tense at that. "Yeah," Rogue said, nodding.

Lorna smiled. "Well it's great to meet you then. I was wondering when we'd run into each other."

Rogue nodded. "Remy an' Ah went t'supper late, so we must've missed yah last night."

Lorna nodded back. "I gotcha. You guys missed the whole introduction thing. You met Nezhno yet? Professor Xavier introduced him and me and that kid, Jimmy, to everyone that was there."

Rogue smiled. "Yeah, Nezhno was still eating when we got there. Remy introduced us. Haven't seen Jimmy yet, but Ah've met him briefly before he came here." She said.

She glanced at Lorna. "Remy tol' me 'bout th'mission, an' how he found yah – how're yah doin'?"

Lorna shrugged. "Alright, I guess. Maybe a little bored. Not much to do right now other than things Professor Xavier sets up. Playing with my powers," she said, nodding to the metallic spinning tops. "Getting frustrated, like I'm sure you saw – sorry about that."

Lorna shook her head and sighed. "I used to be able to do three tops, no problem, and now I can't even get that right." She closed her eyes for a moment. "We got beaten if they saw us use our powers, so I haven't even touched them for months now, and I lost a lot of what I'd gained before they took me. Just really frustrating having to re-learn everything."

Rogue glanced at her sympathetically. "Ah'm sorry, Ah – no one should hafta go through somethin' like that. Ah understand why you'd be frustrated. Ah would be too."

Lorna grinned wryly. "It's that, and the fact that I managed to get rescued in the final third of a semester, so I have to wait at least 'till summer session before I can take any classes. Thus the being bored."

Rogue nodded, and looked at her curiously. "What are yah studyin'?"

Lorna shrugged. "Dunno for sure yet. This'll be my first college courses, really. I'm thinkin' geology or geophysics. I really liked that stuff in high school, and with my powers basically making me part of the magnetic field…." She trailed off, absently twirling a finger, causing one of the tops to jump up and spin slightly. "Sorta fits. What about you?"

Rogue bit her lip, her fingers twisting together slightly. "Ah – Ah think Ah might want ta be a nurse. If Ah get control of mah mutation, Ah think that'll be what Ah do."

"That's cool. Lotsa time at school for that, I bet." Lorna raised a green eyebrow. "What's your mutation?"

Rogue held out a gloved hand. "Mah skin. It… Ah can absorb a person's mem'ries, an' their powers if they have them. Can kill someone if Ah hold on too long. Ah can't control when it happens, put mah first boyfriend in a coma – he's still in it."

Lorna's eyes widened. "Ouch. I'm sorry, here I am complaining about not being able to spin tops, when you… that really sucks."

Rogue shrugged. "Ah'm dealin'. Remy's helpin' me learn to control it."

Lorna smiled, somewhat bittersweet. "That's good. I… Rogue, I don't know if he told you, but, I…. sort of tried to ask him out on a date when I first came here…."

Rogue tensed visibly this time, but nodded. "He did."

Lorna put her face in her hands and groaned. "I always manage to make a fool of myself with things like that. I didn't realize he was taken, and… I just want to clear the air with you. I'm – I'm fine just being friends with him, and I'm not like, gonna try to steal him away from you or anything like that."

Rogue sighed softly, and then smiled. "Thanks. Hearin' that… helps. Ah was a little jealous when he told me, an' – mah power doesn' exactly help, 'specially when mah last boyfriend an' Ah broke up because of the whole not-touchin' thing. Remy's… he's one of th'only people Ah've met that isn't bothered by that, but it still scares me that he'll leave sometimes, y'know?"

Lorna leaned forward and tentatively patted Rogue's hand. "Well, you don't have anything to worry about from me. Just friends. And… if you want, I'd like to be friends with you too. I don't know many people…"

Rogue smiled, and nodded. "Ah'd like that."

Rogue finally relaxed fully, and leaned back in her chair. "So what're you doin' up this early?" She asked. "Ah didn't 'spect ta see anyone up."

Lorna grimaced. "Couldn't sleep. Bad habit from the Purifiers. We were lucky if they let us sleep five hours in a row. Bad dreams too. What about you?"

Rogue shrugged. "Just restless, couldn't stay asleep much more'n a half hour."

"Getting woken up in the middle of the night probably doesn't help much either. Does Remy usually set off alarms in the middle of the night?" She asked, a playful smile on her face.

Rogue laughed and shook her head. "Naw, just ev'ry once in a while." She said, grinning. "He didn't mean to wake everyone up last night. Ah think he's a little embarrassed that he didn' think of Logan turnin' on th'alarm manually – he was just testin' the security system."

Rogue shifted in her chair. "Y'know," she said hesitantly, "if yah ever wanna talk 'bout…. anythin', 'specially 'bout what you went through, Ah'm a good listener. Talkin' usually helps with th'dreams. Ah know from experience."

Rogue saw the fingers of Lorna's hands tense slightly, and the metallic tops quivered slightly on her lap, before she nodded, looking up to meet Rogue's eyes. "Thanks. I – I might take you up on that when I'm ready." Her hand moved up to shakily run through her long green hair, combing it back out of her eyes.

Rogue smiled slightly. "Alright, fair enough. Now, have yah eaten breakfast yet?" She asked. "Ah'm feelin' hungry."

Lorna shook her head. "No, I haven't, but I'm a bit hungry too."

Rogue placed her hands on the armrests, and pushed herself up. "How's an omelet sound? Ah can make you one..." Rogue said.

Lorna smiled. "Sure, sounds good if you don't mind."

Rogue shrugged. "No problem. C'mon, Ah'll show yah where Ah hide the good bacon. Even Remy doesn' know 'bout it." She said, grinning. "But yah can't tell anyone, 'specially not Remy – don' want him gettin' fat."

Lorna laughed, and mimed zipping her mouth shut. "Your bacon secrets are safe with me."

* * *

"You can start, Logan," Charles said as Piotr and Bobby filed into the 'War Room', the last two they had been waiting for.

Logan cleared his throat. "I'm sure most of ya have at least heard about our little raid on the Purifiers last week if y'weren't in on it yerselves. I've been goin' over the hard drives we recovered from the base."

Logan shook his head. "Most of it's boring as hell – requisitions for toilet paper, medical supply invoices that I let Hank take a look at," he said, nodding in his direction. "Guard rosters, rotations, security procedures. All a bunch of junk now that we took them out. I'll let Hank talk about the medicine when I'm done."

"I did find some stuff that might give us a bit more insight into them. They haven' made it a secret they're a terrorist organization since they first showed their faces, so that's not really a surprise."

"It looks like they've gotta cell structure – pretty common with terrorists. Only a few people in the group know an' are in contact with another cell, an' they only let 'em have contacts with two or three others – compartmentalization so if one group gets taken like th'one we attacked, they don't reveal much more of the overall group. Probably only one or two people know all th'cells, an' they're the higher-ups."

"But from the looks of it they're a pretty big organization – this was the western New York cell, and the files hinted most states have at least one. These guys were in contact with 'nother group somewhere in New York City an' a group in Pennsylvania."

"Locations?" Remy asked.

Logan shook his head. "Nope, jus' phone numbers. Probably could track them if I had the resources, nail down where the other two groups are."

Logan continued, looking at a piece of paper where he'd written out what he wanted to talk about. "One new thing – looks like these guys aren't simple political terrorists, they're some sorta religious cult. Found copies of a bunch of mutant hate sermons from some whackjob minister from Kansas. They kinda remind me of the KKK or that Christian Identity/Aryan Nations group."

"Apparently we're 'abominations' produced by the AntiChrist, and the movement to get mutant acceptance is really trying to turn everyone into mutants an' it's the 'mark of the beast'." Logan said, a hint of a growl in his voice.

Logan saw Kurt shake his head slightly, and realized that as a very religious mutant the concept these people were teaching was likely even more alien to him than to the rest of them.

"Lotsa hints about a connection to the Church of Humanity, but nothin' solid to go on. Could be they do their recruitin' from the most radical members of the COH. Connection wouldn't be that suprisin' given what you found in Creed's head, Chuck," he said, nodding to Charles.

Logan shrugged. "That's 'bout all I've gotten through. There's a bit more that's readable, but the rest is on the more damaged drives." He looked to Kitty. "Figured maybe you could give me a hand with them, Kitty. Get what we can off of them."

Kitty nodded, her expression reserved, and not nearly as bubbly as she usually was. "Sure, I can give it a look."

"Maybe recruit Doug inta helpin' – know he'd pretty good with that stuff too."

Kitty bit a nail, and nodded – Doug Ramsey was a good friend of hers, slightly younger than herself and the others, and he was a whiz at computers, especially programming. "If I need any help I'll get him. Don't wanna get him involved in this sort of thing if we can help it, though, right?"

Charles nodded. "Only if you have to." He looked at Logan. "Was there anything else?"

Logan shook his head. "No, that's it. Don't know if Hank found anythin' from the medical stuff."

As everyone's attentions turned to the blue-furred man, he cleared his throat, and pushed a pair of glasses further up on his face, and nodded. "A lot of it seems like your basic lab and medic station. Some of these things, though. There are some rather exotic drugs here, as well as an inordinate amount of anti-body suppressants – the sort of drugs that are prescribed after organ transplants to reduce the risk of a rejection."

He shook his head. "Given the description Gambit gave me last week, and these supplies, it appears they were experimenting surgically in some way with the mutants they captured. Organ transplants at the very least – I don't know what type – perhaps mutant to mutant or even mutant to human or human to mutant. It's rather disturbing to say the least. Perhaps an attempt to see if implanting baseline human organs would change mutants in some way. Likely not vice-versa given what Logan just said about their ideology."

"Without any actual records of procedures, or any files the 'doctors' kept, I'm afraid I cannot make any further guesses." He concluded.

"I'll keep an eye out for anything like that, when I'm working on it," Kitty said.

"What about a connection to Senator Creed?" Bobby spoke up.

Logan grunted and shook his head. "Nuthin'. Hint of a possible area leader that's givin' orders to the three I mentioned, but no more. With the way they're organized I think we're gonna hafta get lucky with a raid like this an' run into a group that his assistant keeps in contact with, or figure out some other way to get the evidence."

'_Could you stay behind? There's something I'd like to discuss with you_,' Xavier broadcasted to the heads of Logan, Rogue, and Remy as everyone began to leave, having finished the discussion on the Purifiers and set up several training sessions for the team. He and Remy had discovered that while Remy was shielded from telepathic reading and mental influences, his rudimentary receptive-empathy allowed him to receive broadcasted thoughts like everyone else in the mansion.

Remy, who had already begun to stand, sat back down, and they waited until everyone else had left.

"I'm sure the three of you remember meeting Nick Fury, the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., back on Alcatraz?"

"_Oui_," Remy said, and Logan and Rogue nodded.

"Nick and I are old friends, we used to work together in the past. He stopped by for a visit over break to make us a rather intriguing offer."

"He's looking to make a, shall we say, shadow version of the Avengers. A group behind the scenes that can do things that the Avengers wouldn't be able to, things perhaps less than legal or at least less legal than what we did at the Purifier's base."

"Since mutants could hurt the rather good PR that the Avengers are bringing in, he'd like to make this group up of mutants, and he came to me to see if I had any 'suggestions'."

Logan frowned. "He wants the X-Men?"

"Basically, yes. He said he had a mutant or two of his own in mind, but apparently it can be hard to covertly recruit trustworthy mutants, so he came to me."

"And what's in it for the team?" Logan asked.

Charles sighed. "Anyone that joins would be an official S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, paid full salary. We would get access to S.H.I.E.L.D. resources – information, files, everything, for our own use. And… I don't want to influence any of you by this, but Nick promised anonymous funding for the school. Enough to do all we planned and then some, without dipping into the school savings. This is what I was referring to last night when I mentioned something about funding the security upgrades."

"What're de strings?" Remy asked.

"Not many. I'm under the impression that this is pretty close to Top Secret, so this will be funding without any distinguishable connection to the government. The only thing he wants is a team of mutants he can call on when he needs them. Likely weekend missions – he knows your priorities will be with the school – unless it can't be helped."

Xavier held his hands out on the table, palm up. "I don't want to force any of you to do this. Even if we don't, we still have plenty of funding for the school, so don't worry about doing it for that. All this would do is make it simpler.**"**

"I will be talking to the others individually about this, but Nick requested the three of you, so I figured it would be best now to know how the three of you feel about it."

"He asked for us specifically?" Remy asked, his brow furrowed.

Charles nodded. "Yes. Logan, you apparently have worked with him in your past, and he felt you would be perfect for the group. Remy, Nick knows who you are, and S.H.I.E.L.D. has quite the file on you on things they suspect you were involved in but apparently couldn't pin on you. And apparently Nick was impressed that you were willing to risk passing yourself off as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent – told me to tell you that you should take care of your badge?"

Remy cleared his throat, looking slightly embarrassed. "Ah, I shoulda figured dey'd hear 'bout dat. I flashed a S.H.I.E.L.D. badge a… friend of mine gave me when I got Rogue from de city after Carol. De only way I could t'ink of to get us away from de cops dat were dere."

Charles chuckled, and shook his head. "Yes, I'd gathered as much from what he said. Apparently the accounts given were hazy enough that he only knew you'd rescued a mutant girl, and he didn't seem to know who that had been."

Rogue smiled softly, and reached under the table squeezing Remy's hand, before looking up to Charles. "Why does he want me?" She asked.

Charles sighed. "Your abilities. I'd guess to get information from people. I warned him when he asked for you that you'd be uncomfortable using it, but he wanted me to make the offer anyway."

Rogue nodded slightly, and glanced down at the gloved hand that rested on the table, the one not gripped by Remy's own hand.

"Ah figured it would be that," she said softly. "Ah…Ah'm not sure how comfortable Ah'd be with that. With people Ah know, yeah, it's been alright, but with the kind of people a team like this would be dealin' with…." She shook her head.

Xavier nodded in understanding. "That was my thought as well. Nick will understand that." Xavier glanced over to Logan.

Logan nodded. "I'm in. Least to check it out. If I don't like what I see, I'll leave."

Remy sighed, and nodded as well. "I'm in too. It'll be good, not jus' for de school, but for havin' de resources t'bring Creed down."

Charles smiled slightly. "I'll tell Nick."

Rogue looked up. "Ah'm in too."

"_Chére_? You sure?" Remy asked, squeezing her hand slightly.

She nodded. "Ah – Fury probably doesn' know about Carol's – _mah_ powers now. Ah'm not gonna absorb mem'ries for him if Ah don' feel right 'bout it, but Ah have other powers now that'll be useful in somethin' like this."

Remy looked over her face with a concerned gaze for a moment, making sure she was doing what she really wanted, and then nodded slightly, squeezing her hand again. "Alright." Remy said, sighing imperceptibly. "Tell Fury he's got his answer. But tell him if anyone from my past finds out I'm still alive b'cause of dis, I won' be happy. Black ops better be _black_ ops."

Charles nodded. "I'll be sure to tell him that. I don't think any of us would benefit from that. I'll discuss this with the others over the next few days, but I wanted to hear from the three of you first."

"So we get to use their resources – dat's gonna make it a helluva lot easier t'find dirt on Creed and Maldrone. Dey probably got a nice database goin' on suspected Purifier bases – save us a bunch of time tryin' to find dem."

Xavier nodded again. "It will. Apparently S.H.I.E.L.D. was watching the base we'd attacked, and had been trying to get someone on the inside. We'd have had access to their blueprints of the place instead of what we found."

"I talked to Nick about Creed, and what I found in his mind. He's a bit worried that they've got some sympathizers of Creed in S.H.I.E.L.D. because their checks on him didn't catch anything about his assistant or any hint of a tie to these anti-mutant organizations. In any case, he's looking into it himself – none of us want a person like Creed as a president of our country. More than likely our own missions and the ones Nick has you go on will be similar if not the same."

"Sounds like Fury might have us help clean house at first," Logan said thoughtfully. "Was there anythin' else ya wanted t'talk to us about, Chuck?

"This was really all I wanted to bring up. I'm sure within a week Nick will visit again and talk with you personally. I'll go call him now with a tentative yes." Xavier said, dismissing them.

* * *

Remy rubbed at his forehead as he walked slowly to the living room. He was used to going days with little sleep, but he wanted to be refreshed for Rogue on the date. Typically there were few people in the living room at this time of day on a Tuesday, so he decided to try to catch a short nap on one of the couches.

He glanced around the room, and flicked on one of the corner lights, enough to give a low light to the room without being too bright to sleep, and he slid onto one of the couches, propping a pillow up behind his head.

He thumbed the remote turning the television on, and settled back, his eyes already starting to droop. He sat up slightly, his eyes opened fully, when the channel he was watching went to international and national news, and the banner across the bottom mentioned something about mutants.

_The older man at the news desk looked up from a piece of paper that he had sitting in front of him on the desk._

_"Good afternoon, thank you Nancy," he said to the person that had passed the report on to him._

_"Our first story takes us to the country of Denmark. Today the Danish Parliament passed an amendment to the Danish Penal Code, extending the definition of hate speech – which is defined by the Code to be public statements that threaten, ridicule, or hold in contempt a group of people due to their race, skin color, nationality or ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. The new amendment adds genetic status to the list."_

_"This decision comes two years after the Danish Parliament passed laws against discrimination of a person on the basis of their genetics, making Denmark the first country to do so at the time. The Netherlands soon followed, and Sweden recently passed similar laws."_

_"In related news, the British House of Commons has introduced a Parliament Bill that will be voted on in a few months, which would introduce similar hate-speech and anti-discrimination policies for protection of mutants."_

_"Moving on to China, US officials – and official statements from China – confirm the fact that the Chinese government is forming a task force of native superhumans and mutants, to act as a special forces response team for the Chinese military."_

_"We go now to one of our military and international political consultants, Retired General Sam Lane, to look deeper into this announcement. Sam, does this news come as a surprise, and what are its implications?"_

_The scene changed to an older man, with gray hair, dressed in a suit sitting at a desk in another location. _

_The man cleared his throat, and glanced down at a piece of paper in front of him. "Well, George, frankly at least to the government, this news is unsurprising." _

"_It merely confirms long-held suspicions of such a group in China, basically a counterpart to the government sanctioned Avenger Initiative founded by S.H.I.E.L.D. We've known or suspected for a while now that China had at least one of these groups, and this simply formalizes that fact."_

"_China now joins the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Egypt in publicly acknowledging a group of superhumans and mutants in an official government capacity."_

"_Israel, Iran, North Korea, India, and South Africa are believed to have unacknowledged teams themselves. For many countries, it appears that superhumans and mutants are becoming a part of a new arms race, similar in many ways to the nuclear arms race of several decades ago."_

"_Very interesting, Sam," George said, "Also interesting, isn't it, that China seems to have embraced mutants as well as superhumans?"_

_Sam nodded. "Yes, they treat them as a national treasure – and that only highlights what I think is the double standard here in the United States: somehow, people who achieved abilities after birth, or have unexplained abilities not linked to the 'X-Gene', are welcomed, as seen by the superhumans in the Avenger Initiative like Thor, the Hulk, and so forth. But the minute you bring in genetics, for some reason these people with similar abilities are no longer so easily accepted."_

_George nodded. "Thank you, Sam, indeed it is a quandary we cannot explain. Thank you for coming here to talk with us."_

"_Next, several economic experts will break down important financial events over the last month, and we'll be answering questions from viewers – if you have a question, just send an e-mail to….."_

Remy felt himself begin to drift to sleep as the station went to a commercial, and an indeterminate amount of time later the sound of muted voices began to cut into his consciousness.

Suddenly, the warm, constant hum of his empathy in his head – something that had taken years to get used to completely – died out, and the energy that felt ever-ready to hum forth from his body dimmed, and he jerked upward on the couch, a card ready between his fingers.

But the card wasn't glowing as he sat up, whirling toward the entrance to the living room. A curse at that fact died on his lips when he saw Rahne and the young boy they'd rescued from Alcatraz – Jimmy, if he remembered right – standing inside the room, frozen at his sudden movement. And then he knew what had caused the feeling that woke him, and he relaxed, the inert playing card disappearing into his pocket.

"_Dieu_, sorry," he said, "didn' think anyone'd be comin' down here."

Rahne smiled, and blushed slightly. "It's alrigh', Mister Gambit, we dinnae know you were in here." She glanced at Jimmy. "Jimmy, this is Professor Gambit – do ye remember I tol' you about him?"

Jimmy nodded, and reached his hand out tentatively. "Yeah. You were with the others at the lab," he said, recognizing Remy. "I'm Jimmy – I… guess you already know what my powers are - sorry."

Remy grinned ruefully and shook his hand. "Oui, Jimmy, nice t'meet you. Jus' takes a little gettin' used to if y'have an' active mutation like me."

Rahne looked up at Remy. "I was going ta show Jimmy where our video games are," she said, nodding to where several X-Boxes and Playstations rested in the entertainment set.

Remy smiled, "_Oui_, dey've got some good games here." He gestured at the array of gaming systems. "Dere's a few TV's around de room, so feel free t'play if no one else is usin' dem – dat's pretty much de only rule 'round here."

Jimmy nodded. "Okay," he said, looking eagerly at the consoles.

"So how y'doin' so far?" Remy asked, "Things goin' alright?"

Jimmy nodded. "Yeah. I spent yesterday with Professor Xavier taking placement tests to make sure I'll be in all the right classes here. Met a lot of people, too."

"Looks like Rahne's takin' you under her wing," he said, winking at Rahne.

Jimmy grinned, and glanced at Rahne. "I never had many friends back home, so it's nice to have one now."

Rahne flushed slightly, "Stoppit, yuir makin' me turn red," she said, a hint of a smile on her face.

Her expression brightened more when she saw something behind Remy at the door. "Sarah!" She said cheerfully, and scurried over to the door to grab Sarah's hand.

"Jimmy, you met Sally – Sarah's my other friend," Rahne said, grabbing Sarah's hand and pulling her into the room. "Sarah, this's my new friend Jimmy."

Sarah's feet stopped moving, and she stood stock-still when she entered the radius of Jimmy's abilities, Rahne's hand slipping from hers at the sudden halt. A look of discomfort went over her face as the bony growths on her face, shoulders, arms, and legs, all retracted slowly, leaving the now-brown-haired girl completely unblemished by the growths that constantly plagued her.

Her wide eyes slowly moved up to Remy's eyes, and her shaky hand reached up to touch the smooth skin of her forehead. "I-" She shook her head, turned, and ran out of the room.

Remy sighed softly, and looked over to Jimmy, who looked stricken at what just happened.

"I knew this would happen with someone," he muttered dejectedly.

Remy stepped closer and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "It's alrigh', Jimmy. Sarah's grown up wit' her mutation for 'bout half her life now, an' hasn't had much good happen to her because of it. I think goin' back like dat jus' scared her, an' it was too much t'take in."

"I'm sorry," he said quietly.

Rahne looked down, a troubled expression on her face. "I'm sorry too, I dinnae think about that. D'ye think she'll be alrigh'?

"She'll be fine," Remy said. "I'll give her a few minutes t'calm down an' not feel overwhelmed, an' den I'll go talk t'her. It ain' your fault – don' make a big deal 'bout it either, I t'ink she'll be feelin' embarrassed 'bout it when she cools down."

Remy grabbed the remote from the couch, and handed it to Rahne. "You guys keep doin' what you were doin' – I'll talk t'her. _Hein_?"

Rahne nodded. "Yes, Professor Gambit."

Remy winked at her, and chucked her lightly under the chin. "Gambit's jus' fine. No pr'fessor or mister, 'less y'want to, an' dat only in class, _petite louve_," he said, grinning.

Remy smiled slightly to himself when he found Sarah in the second place he'd guessed she would go. The first had been her room, but that seemed too obvious to him, and a quick check had shown she wasn't there.

He walked softly up next to her where she stood, leaning against the fence that looked in on the horse pasture. Her arms were laid flat against the top of the fence, and she was leaning forward, her chin resting on her overlapped hands.

"Hey, _ma mignonne_, you doin' alright?" He asked softly, reaching out to rub her back with his hand.

She jumped slightly in surprise, her eyes sliding away from the two horses racing across the pasture in front of her. She whirled around, and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly. "Yeah," she murmured into his shirt.

"You _really_ alright?" Remy asked, pulling her back slightly placing a hand under her chin to move her eyes up to his. He hid a frown at the tell-tale signs that she'd been crying.

She sniffled slightly, and nodded. "Yeah, sorry, Remy, I… was that th'boy you guys saved from Magneto? The one they were usin' for the cure?"

He smiled slightly, and nodded. "Yeah, _petite_, it was."

"My bones were gone," she said quietly. "That was really scary."

He grabbed her hand, and moved, sitting down on the dusty ground with his back against the fence, and pulled her down next to him. "Why's dat, _petite_?" he asked gently.

She shivered slightly. "I- I'm not sure, Remy. Think part of it was not knowin' it would happen. An', I… I think they make me feel safe. Ever since the tunnels, an' you tellin' me I wasn't a freak because of them – they're safe, even if I hate how they make me look."

"An' when they just disappeared, I felt like I did back with my… after my mommy died, how I felt around _him_," she said. "Um – helpless."

Remy reached down, his palm placed against her cheek. "Know what y'mean, _petite_. I was fallin' asleep when Rahne an' Jimmy walked into de room, an' I felt everythin' – al my powers – disappear, an' it scared de hell outta me."

Then he frowned, and let his fingertips stroke over several of the bony growths that emerged from her forehead and above her cheekbones. "An' you know I tell you all de time – dese don' make you look like any less of de _belle petite_ dat you are, _ma mignonne_."

She smiled slightly, and laid her head back on his chest. "I know, Remy. I'm actually starting to feel that way myself. Thanks for telling me all the time. It helps." She said softly.

Remy hugged her. "Dat's my job, _petite_," he said, grinning down at her.

Sarah looked up at him, biting her lip slightly – a habit she had seemed to pick up from being around Rogue, he thought to himself. "Guess I should say sorry to Jimmy an' Rahne."

Remy nodded. "You should. Rahne's worried 'bout you, an' so was Jimmy. I t'ink he's been worried 'bout someone hatin' his mutation an' what it does."

Sarah looked down, her expression crestfallen. "He probably thinks I do because I ran away," she said softly.

Remy shook his head. "_Non,_ I explained it t'him. He understands. Still wants to meet you. He an' Rahne seem to have hit it off pretty good, an' he wants to get to know _all_ her friends."

He straightened up, and started standing, helping Sarah to her feet as well. "Let's head in – I think Jimmy an' Rahne'll still be in de entertainment room."

Remy walked back to the mansion with her, and stopped with her at the door to the living room. He squeezed her hand. "I'll let you guys have de room to yourselves, okay?"

Sarah smiled slightly, and nodded. She leaned up, kissing his cheek. "Thanks for comin' after me, Remy." She whispered.

"Y'welcome, _petite_." He said, tousling her hair as she turned to enter the room.

He stood by the doorway, a smile on his face as she entered the room, and slowed as she neared Jimmy and Rahne, stopping for a moment as Jimmy's powers negated her own, and her bone growths retracted completely, her hand moving to her face again to feel where her bones had been.

"Hi," she said softly, dropping her hand. "I-I'm sorry about runnin' off like that. I just wasn't expecting your powers – but I am now. I'm Sarah."

Jimmy smiled at her. "Don't be sorry, I understand. It's nice to meet you…"

Remy nodded, satisfied, and pulled back from the door to give all three of them privacy – and perhaps he could finish his nap in his own room, he thought to himself as he moved toward the elevator.

* * *

"Fuck!" Creed exclaimed, throwing the drinking glass he was holding against the wall of the hotel suite he and his wife were staying in. The glass shattered, and dropped to the ground, the pieces making dull taps as they hit the carpet.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before looking back up at Maldrone. "Sorry – are you sure about this? How did this happen? And how the hell are we just now finding out about this?"

"We're sure. Clemmons went to the site himself. Completely destroyed – everything's lost." Maldrone said.

"We're only finding out about it now, because of the cell structure – usually it works in our favor but this time it worked against us. The building was destroyed last week, and that branch wasn't planning on making contact until yesterday with the NYC cell. Apparently the cell leaders were in the building when it blew, and are in the hospital in the ICU, and none of them were able to make contact. The others who survived would have needed access to the facility computers to find contact numbers, and those were obviously destroyed."

Creed closed his eyes and rubbed at his forehead where a pounding headache was beginning to develop. "Alright – ok. Do we have any idea who did this?"

Maldrone shook his head. "No, all of the surveillance footage was not recoverable. We're investigating, but it looks like it might have been mutants. There were no clear signs of man-made explosives – it looks like the building just blew up for no apparent reason."

Creed growled to himself. "So, basically any mutant in the country with some sort of explosive powers could have done it. Any mutant with a grudge against the Purifiers, which means _every_ mutant has a motive." He shook his head. "Did they get anything? Information we should be worried about?"

"No," Maldrone said, "we don't think so, but then most everything was mangled beyond recognition. Even if they did make it out with files, the Western New York cell was very careful about purging information about the organization. At worst they got some information on what we were doing at that facility alone, nothing on the others."

"Alright," Graydon said, sighing wearily. "Get word out to all the cells. I want heightened security just in case. The Kansas City job still on for tonight?"

Maldrone nodded. "Yes, last I heard it's still going."

"Good," Creed said. "See if you can get word to them first, make sure they're extra careful – I don't want us getting caught framing the muties, that would screw the whole thing." He leaned back against the headboard. "I need to take an aspirin. Let me know when you get word to everyone – we have to go over the speech for Virginia. Only two days to get it down the way we want it."

Maldrone nodded again, and quietly left the room, the door closing behind him, and Creed got up, padding over to his suitcase to grab his bottle of aspirin. He opened it and tapped out two, dry-swallowing the capsules.

The sound of the hairdryer in the bathroom ceased, and moments later the door opened and Mikaela walked out, a scanty bathrobe covering her body, her hair still curling from the slight dampness from her shower.

Her eyes scanned the room, stopping for a moment on the broken glass near the wall, and moved across the room, embracing her husband. "Bad news?" She asked.

Graydon nodded, and relaxed as her hands moved up to massage his forehead. "Yeah. Ron's taking care of it though. Mutants, not the campaign." He clarified when he saw the questioning look in her eyes.

"Mm, well, I may just know a way to help you forget about it…" she said suggestively, moving to place her lips on his.

He pulled her down onto the bed. "I like the way you think," he said gruffly. Mutants could be damned – they had nothing on his wife, he thought to himself.

* * *

"Thanks," Rogue said, smiling, as Remy held the car door open for her. She climbed out, and Remy closed the door behind her, and slipped his hand into hers. "Still not tellin'?" She asked, amused.

"You'll see soon, _Chére_," Remy said, still silent on where he was taking her – at least now she knew it was New York City: they'd just parked in a parking garage downtown.

Rogue reached down with her free hand to smooth out the knee-length tan skirt she'd worn which complemented her white dress blouse nicely. Her gaze shifted to the right, and ran over Remy appreciatively.

While she'd seen him dress up a bit on their previous date – their first one – she couldn't help it as she looked at him in an even dressier outfit. He was wearing a long-sleeved button-down dress shirt that fit him rather nicely in her opinion, and dressy pants.

She squeezed his hand with her gloved one, and he glanced over at her with a slight smile. "Alrigh', here we go, _Chére_. Ever been to a French restaurant?" he asked, nodding to the well-lit sign of _La Grenouille_ as they exited the parking garage and moved out onto the street.

Rogue's eyes lit up, and she smiled, shaking her head. "No, Ah haven't."

Remy grinned back. "Well, it ain' the same as goin' to Paris, but it's pretty close. Never been to dis one myself, but Henri recommended it. Hope you saved y'appetite, b'cause sometimes de meals can be a bit big."

Remy pulled open the large glass door of the entrance, and they moved up to the front desk. In moments the host waiter had looked up their reservation, and was taking them to their table.

The restaurant was moderately large, with a warm atmosphere, well-lit by chandeliers that hung above the tables, and candles that burned softly on the tables next to bouquets of flowers in the center of the tables.

"Here you are," the man said with a warm smile, "your server will be with you shortly," he said, setting down two menus on the white tablecloth covering the table.

Remy smiled at Rogue, reaching across the table to interlock the fingers of one hand with her own. "Alrigh', _Chére_, dis is how it goes – your first choice is gettin' _une degustation, _which is dis menu," he said tapping the smaller menu inside the one they had been given, "dat will be a tastin' menu – you get to try little bits of diffren' dishes."

"De second choice is _le formule_, which gives you a choice of diffren' courses at a fixed price. De_entrée_, is an appetizer – for some reason here in America it now can mean main course," he said, grinning slightly, "an' den _le plat principal_, which is de main course. An' den, my two favorite – _le fromage, et dessert_ – cheese an' dessert."

Rogue squeezed his hand, and then looked over the menu – it was in French, with translations beneath each item. "Ah think Ah'll go with choosin' the courses."

"Dat's what I'm doin' too," Remy said.

After giving them a few minutes to look over the menu, their server came over. "_Bonjour_, I am Eduard, I'll be your waiter this evening. Have you had enough time with the menu, or should I give you a few more minutes?"

Remy nodded. "We're ready to order."

The waiter smiled, and looked to Rogue. "What would the _mademoiselle_ like?"

Rogue glanced down at the menu for a moment. "Ah'd like the full meal, um, _Soupe à l'Oignon gratinée _for the _entrée_, and _Filet Mignon aux Oignons _for the main course_._"

"Very good," the waiter said. "I think you'll enjoy the Filet. And you _monsieur_?" He asked, looking to Remy.

"_Le Risotto aux Champignons_, and _Le flétan au Riesling _for _le plat principal."_

The waiter nodded. "And what can I get the lovely couple to drink? Could I interest you in one of our wines?"

Remy tapped the wine list that sat on the table. Yes, we'd like a bottle of your Château Ducru-Beaucaillou Saint-Julien," Remy said choosing a light red.

The waiter nodded – the whole time he hadn't used a pad to write their orders down like many waiters did, instead simply remembering it. "Very well, I will bring out a bottle for you right away after I put your order in." He said, before inclining his head to them, and turning to walk in the direction of the kitchen.

"This's really good," Rogue said, after swallowing a bite of cheese and bread. The waiter had just cleared away their plates, replaced them with clean ones, and set a platter of several types of cheese and various breads in front of them, and walked off to put in the order for their desserts.

"Now y'know why it's my fav'rite part," Remy said grinning as he bit into a slice of brie on a slice of sesame bread.

The dinner had been delicious, and quickly served to them, and as Rogue grabbed another piece of bread and a knife to cut some Munster cheese, she was glad she'd taken Remy's advice earlier that day to save her appetite. Even now, she knew she'd barely be able to handle dessert without feeling full.

Rogue's eyes moved up to meet Remy's – he'd not worn his sunglasses, his brother had made sure it was a mutant-friendly restaurant when he had visited himself. "So, have yah really been to France?"

Something flashed in his eyes for a moment, like a bad memory trying to rise up in his head and showing itself in his eyes, and then it was gone. He nodded, not aware that she'd noticed. "_Oui_. Once. It's beautiful – countryside was the best but even in Paris, the city was great. 'Course it was a job, so I didn' get to spend a whole lot of time admirin' it. But de Louvre – damn near a thief's wet dream – now dat was impressive."

Rogue's eyebrows rose. "You – you had a job at the Louvre?" She asked, lowering her voice.

Remy chuckled and shook his head, "_Non_, it was a private collection near de edge of de city. De Louvre was jus'… sightseeing," he said.

Remy spread the last bit of cheese, a soft Camemburt cheese, on a piece of warm french bread, and leaned forward, offering it in front of Rogue's mouth. She flushed slightly and then parted her lips, taking a bite of the bread, licking away a few crumbs on her lips as she pulled back.

Remy popped the rest into his mouth, and took a sip of his wine as he finished eating it – Rogue had been a bit more careful drinking this time, ensuring she had a moderately full stomach first, and thus far had not been affected by the drinks.

"What 'bout you, _Chére_? You been out of de country before?"

She shrugged. "Ah guess, if y'count goin' on a family trip to Niagara Falls when Ah was nine, an' crossin' onto th'Canada side. Other'n that, Ah haven't."

Remy pursed his lips slightly. "Well, we'll hafta change dat. One of your breaks we should head somewhere, maybe overseas. Been thinkin' 'bout Sarah gettin' to see more of de world, an' I guess it'd be good for you too."

Rogue smiled softly at that. "Ah'd like that. Just th'three of us. Maybe over summer break," she said. "Ah have a passport – th'Professor made sure we all got them when we became official members of th'team."

Their conversation was cut off by the return of their waiter, who grabbed their plates, before placing two sample platters of different flavored scoops of sorbet in front of each of them.

Rogue took a spoonful of a pink-colored one, and placed it into her mouth, closing her eyes in delight at the strong strawberry flavor. "Mmm, y'gotta try this one."

Rogue felt warm even in the chill of the evening air with Remy's arm around her shoulder as they walked along the storefronts near their restaurant. "This was really romantic," Rogue said softly near his ear, leaning up to kiss him softly on the cheek.

Remy smiled, and drew her in closer until she was pressed further up against him. "Hoped you'd like it, Rogue."

"Ah did. Ah like a man that plans ahead," she said with a warm smile, "it makes me feel important. Not that Ah've had much experience, but… with Bobby an' Cody, they never really made me feel like that – like Ah was the most important thing to them."

"You are," Remy breathed, "You an' Sarah. More importan' to me den anythin' else."

She felt his body tense imperceptibly against her as they walked, and she glanced up to see his gaze fixed on a man up the street from them, making his way in their direction. Something about him seemed… wrong… to her, like something was off, and she assumed this is what Remy had taken note of.

The man bumped into a middle-aged woman who had just emerged from a small diner in ahead in their path, and he placed a hand on her shoulder to steady her, apologizing politely.

The woman smiled politely and nodded, before continuing to walk on.

"Jus' act nat'ral," Remy murmured, leaning down and making a show of kissing her on the top of her head.

She smiled – it wasn't exactly faked – and tried to keep walking like she had been.

Moments later, they passed the man, his arm barely brushing against Remy's, and he continued on, well past the two of them. "Wait here," Remy said to Rogue as he pulled away from her, bouncing a small object in his palm.

Rogue's eyes widened when she realized what it was, and smiled to herself as Remy ran up ahead, catching up with the woman.

"'Scuse me, ma'am, is this yours?" he asked, holding out the wallet in his hand. "I think you dropped it when you ran into that man back there."

The woman gasped, paling when she recognized the wallet, and then smiled gratefully at him. "Thank you so much. I would have never found it. I would have lost everything." She opened her wallet, and pulled out a ten dollar bill, pressing it into his hand. "Thank you for being so honest – there are too many people these days that would have kept it for themselves."

Remy shook his head. "Thank you, but please, I don't want to take your money," he said, smiling his thanks to her, but she kept it pressed in her hand.

"Please, it's the least I can do." She said insistently, pulling her hand back, and stuffing her wallet into her purse.

"Well, thank you, then," Remy said, reaching forward to grasp her hand and shake it. "Glad I saw it."

He released her hand and walked back over to Rogue, who grabbed his hand, leaning her head on his shoulder. "You, are sweet," she said, poking his chest with her finger, "Y'know Ah barely even saw yah touch him t'get that back," she said, an impressed expression on her face.

"It's all 'bout practice," Remy said with a slight shrug.

Rogue glanced up. "Yah didn't end up takin' her money…. Did yah?

Remy shook his head. "_Non_, I couldn't. She's gonna have a nice ten-dollar surprise when she looks in her purse next time," Remy said, enjoying the sound of Rogue's rich laughter at that.

The engine rumbled to a halt as Remy pulled the car into the garage at the mansion and shut it off. He hopped out of the car and tossed the keys onto the rack they kept them on, and moved around the car to grab Rogue's hand and help her out.

"So, _Chére_, did you have a good night?" He asked quietly, still holding onto her hand.

Rogue nodded happily. "Yeah, Remy. Ah don't want it to be over, either," she said, half-pouting.

He glanced at his watch. "Well, it don' have to be. It's only a bit eleven. We could go up on de roof for a while…"

Rogue's expression brightened. "C'mon," she said tugging him toward the door.

"Sarah's already in bed, tol' her I would be back late an' she had class early tomorrow so she had to be in bed by eleven."

"Alright, so we have the roof to ourselves tonight," Rogue said as she pulled him outside.

He raised an eyebrow and craned his neck up four stories to the roof. "We gonna climb up?" He asked with an amused smile.

Rogue grabbed his arm firmly. "No – fly." She said, laughing at his surprised yelp as she took to the air, towing him along with her somewhat shakily until she got used to the change in her center of mass.

She darted upward, and landed neatly on the roof, Remy finding his footing quickly afterward next to her.

"Maybe a little more warnin' next time _Chére_?" He asked with a wry grin, using the arm she was still gripping to pull her down next to him as he sat down on the roof.

Rogue giggled. "Where's the fun in that?" She asked cheekily.

Remy rolled his eyes, and pulled her closer until her head was resting on his shoulder, and they stared up at the stars together.

"Shootin' star," Remy said suddenly, pointing at the light that flashed quickly across the sky.

Rogue closed her eyes for a moment. "Well, Ah made mah wish."

"What is it?" Remy asked curiously.

Rogue swatted his chest. "Ah can't tell yah or it won' come true, dummy."

"Bet it was 'bout me," Remy said smugly.

"Don't get cocky, Cajun." She said.

"You sure you don' want me to, _Chére?" _He said, looking at her suggestively.

Rogue blushed slightly. "Does that mind ever get outta th'gutter?"

Remy shook his head, a serious expression on his face. "_Non_."

Rogue gave an aggravated sigh, and reached up to touch his cheek and turn his face until their noses were almost touching. "Ah guess Ah'll jus' hafta deal with that," she said in mock disappointment before pressing her lips to his, pulling back only when the pull of her powers became too great – something she was becoming much better at determining with Remy.

She settled back as he touched her hand and withdrew his energy from her, and they lay there staring at the clear starry skies – this was the clearest night she'd seen here at the mansion since they'd started coming out here.

"So you met Lorna," Remy said quietly.

Rogue glanced up at his face in surprise. "Yeah, how'd yah know?"

Remy smiled. "Woke up an' came down when you two were in de kitchen. Sounded like you guys hit it off pretty well, an' I didn' wanna interrupt girl time."

Rogue nodded. "We did. She's nice. Kinda reminds me of Carol almost. We talked a lot about _you_." She said. "She even apologized for hittin' on yah, tol' me Ah wouldn' have anythin' to worry 'bout from her." Rogue said, smiling.

She sat up slightly. "She's bored outta her mind. We should make sure she's included in ev'rythin' around the mansion."

Remy nodded slightly. "We here at de mansion are de only people she's got. She's got no family anywhere – Logan checked it out for me over de break."

Then he raised his eyebrows. "Speakin' of meetin' people, you talk to Jimmy yet? Sarah met him today, an' I had a talk with him."

Rogue nodded slightly. "Ah met him when we rescued him, but Ah haven't run inta him yet since he came in. Sarah an' him get along?

Remy grimaced slightly. "She freaked out at first when her bones disappeared near him, ran off outside. I calmed her down, an' she went back to talk to him – 'parrently he an' Rahne made friends de last few days, an' Rahne was excited to have him meet all her friends."

"Ah can understand. Ah'm glad she's alright now. Ah know Ah could just feel Carol's power's disappear, an' mah own – Ah don' blame her for gettin' spooked at first."

Remy grunted and nodded, touching her cheek. "Y'know… we could ask him to hang around if y'ever wanted to touch without your powers…"

Rogue closed her eyes for a moment, and then shook her head. "That's sweet of yah t'be thinkin' of me like that, but Ah don' wanna. It'd just hurt that much more when Ah walked away an' it was even fresher in mah mind what Ah can't have right now. Ah want it to be jus' you an' me, not someone else helpin' us along, fakin' it."

Remy smiled and nodded. "I understand, Rogue. Jus' offerin' in case y'hadn' thought 'bout it."

"Ah know. That's why Ah put up with you," she said, smiling sweetly –innocently – up at him.

Nearly a half an hour later, just as Rogue was beginning to think Remy had fallen asleep, he turned on his side, looking seriously at her. "You really sure 'bout joinin' dis S.H.I.E.L.D. team? If y'just joinin' because I am…" He trailed off, reaching up to stroke back the white bangs that framed her face.

Rogue shook her head. "No, Remy, Ah'm sure. It ain' jus' 'bout you joinin', although that's a bonus," she said, smiling slightly.

Her smile fell then, and she sighed. "It's just… Creed needs t'be stopped, first off, an' this'll make it a lot easier t'do. I want to stop what happened to Sarah in th'tunnels, an' what happened to Lorna in that cell from happenin' to other mutants."

She lowered her eyes, not meeting his. "An Ah – Ah finally feel valuable to th'team, an' now I can be useful here too. Ah always felt so useless, like Ah was just a leech that could only defend itself by takin' other people's powers."

She shook her head, placing the tips of her gloved fingers against his lips as he began to protest. "No, Ah don't feel that way any more. Sarah an' Logan, an' especially you, showed me Ah can do things with mah powers that Ah never thought of, an' that Ah wasn't useless. An now, Carol gave me her powers, an' Ah can use them, too. But Ah want this – t'show mahself that Ah really can be more than 'The Girl With Th'Poison Skin'."

"You _**are**_ more," he said seriously, and then raised an eyebrow. "Y'know, '_The Girl With Th'Poison Skin'_ might jus' make a good band name." he said with a low chuckle, ducking down to rest his chin in her hair.

"Thanks. An' Ah think you're right, it might be a good name," Rogue said with a soft smile on her face.

She chewed on her lip for a moment. "Remy? Can Ah ask yah somethin'? Somethin' personal?"

"Anythin'. No secrets, remember?" He said, reaching up to play with a strand of her hair that had blown into his face.

She swallowed slightly. "What happened in France? Ah could tell it wasn' all great like yah were makin' it out b'fore. Somethin' happened."

Remy inhaled sharply, and glanced away. "Job went bad," he said.

Rogue grabbed his chin, turning his face so their eyes met. "Somethin' hurt yah."

Remy nodded, and sighed wearily. "Alrigh'. It was one of my first jobs – first one outta de country. Henri went wit' me to watch out for me. We were hired t'steal a rare pendant, _L'Etroile du Tricherie, _from someone. He lived in one of de residential buildings, like a big condo, on de twennieth floor of a group of buildings called _Orgues de Flandre_."

"We got in town a week or so before we had t'steal it, which left us wit' plenty of time to enjoy ourselves an' case de place before we went in. We enjoyed de night life quite a bit. Met a girl. Her name was Genevieve Darceneaux. Turned out to be de daughter of de man we were gonna steal from."

He shot Rogue an apologetic look as he continued. "We had a good time together, I actually liked her, but I knew I had t'play her to get easier access to de pendant."

"Dis guy we were stealin' from was a big shot, had some sorta connections wit' a local gun-runnin' business, so de place was crawlin' wit' security. Our employer set us up wit' one of his own men, to give us 'assistance' in gettin' past all dese people – no one knew I'd happen upon Genny."

Remy's jaw clenched. "His man was a brute. Mutant wit' some sorta animal side. Sorta like Logan, but evil - sadistic."

Remy shook his head. "Anyway, Genny got me in de building, an' Henri an' de animal kept de guards off my back while I stole de pendant."

"I got out, an' found out our client didn' wanna let us in on the cut. His man had taken Henri an' Genny, an' was hangin' dem – tied up – off de balcony of de floor we were stealin' from. Sadistic bastard got off on it – said he'd let dem go if I gave him de pendant."

"Bastard thought it was funny when he dropped dem after I handed de pendant over, said he'd held to his word and 'let them go'. I jumped off after dem, caught Henri's rope, an' managed to catch on to a balcony – broke my leg doin' dat."

"Almost had her," he said, staring down at his left hand. "Her rope was in my hand, but I couldn' hold on – ripped my skin up pretty good when it slid through my hand. Guess I slowed her down a little bit, but dat was still ten stories left t'fall by den."

Remy's eyes met Rogue's, anguish clear in them. "She was alive, barely, when we got down. She tol' me… she tol' me she _loved_ me, an' I shoulda jus' _asked_ her for de pendant," Remy whispered, his eyes shutting tightly.

Rogue was speechless, and simply reached up to frame his face with both hands and pepper comforting kisses to his face.

Remy took a somewhat shaky breath, and opened his eyes again, shooting her a thankful look. "It probably wouldn' have ended up workin' between us, but… I made a girl fall in love wit' me, an' then got her killed."

Remy shook his head. "Never did dat again. Never got involved wit' someone to get closer to a job, even if it woulda made it a hell of a lot easier. I couldn' handle dat – I could hardly handle de guilt from Genny dyin'."

"Gawd, Remy, Ah'm so sorry." She said as she stroked his cheek.

She saw his fist clench shut. "If I ever see dat bastard again… I don' think I'll be able t'stop myself from killin' him."

She nodded, cradling his head closer until his forehead rested against her chest. "Ah wouldn' blame yah, _Sugah_. Ah'm sorry Ah made yah bring up those mem'ries again."

Remy shook his head, content to remain where he was. "_Non_, Rogue. No secrets," he repeated in a low whisper.

She held him until she felt his breathing begin to slow, and shook her head – when she'd asked him to tell her, she'd had no clue the tale would be so sad.

She looked down at Remy with wonder – if this was any indication, it would take a long, long time to learn everything from the past that had made Remy into the man she loved today.

_The story of the Paris job at the end is based on X-Men #33 with a few tweaks for this story (i.e., Genevieve was the actual possessor of the pendant in the comics, and it was actually Sabretooth himself that told the story – to Rogue)._

_Heh – anyone catch the nod to the DC Comics universe? It's somewhere in the TV scene. ;) While I love Marvel, I like comics from both the big publishers (and a lot of the indie stuff). :)_

_Next chap will likely only be character development, and perhaps cover the rest of the week. Chapter after that should (if things go how I plan) begin to ramp things up again as the next threat from Creed is revealed._

_See you all, and thanks for all the great reviews._


	26. Chapter 26: Changes

_**Disclaimer: X-Men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-Men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway ;)**_

_A/N: Hey everyone, sorry for the long wait again. I learned two things getting this chapter done: don't go to Cancun for Spring Break if you want to finish a chapter, and don't put off a 30 page paper until the week it's due! :) Thanks for the reviews last chap – let's get on with the chapter._

**Chapter 26: Changes**

* * *

_**Kansas City, Missouri**_

Much of the city slept. Streetlights shone in the dark, illuminating the roads around them, and most of the skyscrapers and tall buildings downtown only had their nighttime lights on, an odd window here and there lit up by someone working late into the night but the rest darkened.

The nightlife, however, was kicking into gear, it was just after midnight and the nightclubs and bars around town were at their capacity, two hours before most closed, and not many of those people out looked at the four black SUVs driving slowly, right at the speed limit unlike the other vehicles on the road, as if deliberately trying to avoid attention – or at least police attention.

A few blocks to the east of I-35, right in the heart of the city, lays one of the major landmarks: the Liberty Memorial, built within a large acreage of green lawn, was a tall, pillar-like tower with an adjoining museum, built to commemorate those soldiers who had fallen during World War I.

It was the center of a complex of other notable buildings of the city: the Federal Reserve just to the south, Crown Center – a large shopping and entertainment center built around Halls, the maker of Hallmark Cards – lay to the east, a large IRS building to the west.

To its north lay Union Station, once the hub of railways in the city, in its heyday it had reached a peak of nearly 700,000 passengers in 1945, but airliners and other forms of transportation slowly led to its shut-down. It had been reopened in recent years, and become more of a historical monument to the history of railroads in the city, and the home of Science City – a family science entertainment center – and one of the largest planetariums of the area.

A few passenger trains owned by Amtrak did still run through the station, and the last had come in hours before. Lucinda Welsch, who worked the later shift at the main office of the train terminal, had finished locking away the money for pickup from an armored car company the next morning, and closed up after herself, walking out of the station toward a parking lot that lay outside the station, where her fiancé would be waiting for her.

She smiled when she saw his car on the outer edge of the parking lot, its lights on as he leaned up against the door. He waved to her across the parking lot when he spotted her.

She began to walk quicker, eager to head out to the nightclub as they'd planned. She stopped in her tracks as she neared the car, when she saw a train of SUVs move past the parking lot. Everything seemed to move slowly at that moment when she saw a window roll down, revealing a sinister face of pale leather-like skin with an abnormally large grin that took up nearly half of it. In the dark she couldn't tell if it was a Halloween mask or, worse, a real face.

She wildly surmised the latter – a mutant – when it outstretched a hand, and a jet of red energy shot forth, smashing into her fiancé's car. It must have hit the gas tank, because the resulting explosion lifted her bodily and shoved her back. "Richard!" She screamed, climbing back to her feet and running toward where he'd been tossed.

He lay, stunned and bleeding, ten feet from the car. She knelt down next to him, and put her head near his, and she could hear his ragged breathing. "H-hurts," he managed.

She gasped in horror when she saw a long, jagged piece of metal torn from the car frame, embedded in his back. "Richard, please, holds on," she said. She reached into her purse, which had somehow remained on her shoulder, and grabbed her cell phone, and began to punch the 9-1-1, when she heard a squeal of tires, and headlights then blinded her – it was the SUV.

Someone inside the car stepped out, and she saw it was the man with the hideous features. She whimpered. "Please, leave me alone." She couldn't understand why this mutant was doing this. "Oh God, please."

The man raised his hand again.

* * *

"Come on, get back in, Rodgers. We have work to do before the cops show up," a voice from inside of the vehicle said as the man stepped back from the now-smoking bodies of the couple he'd just killed. Across the parking lot, he could see several horrified people cowering behind their cars.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," he said, walking back over to the passenger's side, and climbing back in to the vehicle, and shutting the door. He lifted up the sleeve of the long duster he wore, and fiddled with the straps of a gleaming metal contraption that was attached to his arm.

"What is it with you and you fidgeting with that thing?" the driver asked, and the other men in the back seat laughed.

"Sorry, Kane, I think my arms are too long or something and it doesn't fit right. Blew a hole through my damn coat – this thing cost me a hundred bucks!" he said, his voice muffled by the mask he wore, holding up his arm to show the spot where the muzzle of the S.H.I.E.L.D. weapon had burned straight through the cloth of his coat when he had triggered it on the begging woman.

"Quit your bitching," the driver said, his voice similarly muffled. "These things probably cost ten thousand each. Who cares about your fuckin' coat? Take it to the Boss."

Rodgers shook his head. "No fucking way. He'd chew me out. So what's the plan?"

Kane reached up, tapping his earpiece that hid within the mask he wore. "Boss called in while you were wasting the chick. We're leaving Union Station alone, going after the IRS building and the memorial."

One of the men in the back seat shook his head. "Hell no, I ain't attacking the memorial – my great granddad's name's there. He fought an' died in the War."

"Oh grow up." Kane snarled. "We ain't attacking it anyway – we're assigned to the IRS," he said, the car tires squealing slightly as the car picked up speed and ran the yellow light. The headlights of the vehicle illuminated their target building several hundred yards away.

Kane applied the brakes when they jumped the curb into the parking lot of the IRS complex, and they rolled to a stop in front of the building.

The men – five besides Kane – climbed out, each wearing heavy coats and masks that hid their faces as well as the state-of-the-art S.H.I.E.L.D. augmented weapon-suits they wore hidden away to create the illusion that they were mutants.

"Let's do this," one of the men said, moving eagerly toward the front door of the building.

Kane stopped at the sign that stood framed by brick, in fancy writing, in front of the building, naming the offices in the building, including the IRS. He turned his hand toward it, the barrel of the laser-projecting weapon moving with it where it hung below his wrist. He clenched his fist over the triggering mechanism, and flicked the small trigger with his thumb.

A coruscating beam of coherent energy burst forth, and he immediately felt the subsequent heat-spike across the weapon's suit. He moved his hand and the laser tracked with his movements and it carved into the sign, the wood smoking and sizzling as it went.

He felt a tingle of sweat drip down the back of his neck as the heat rose, and he completed the carving, and released the trigger. He stepped back, and eyed his handiwork with fascination when the front glass door of the multi-storied building burst open. A security guard moved out, his hand on his holstered gun. '_Night shift,_' Kane thought with a snort of amusement.

"Hey!" The guard shouted. "Put your hands up, and get down on your knees. You're trespassing and destroying government property."

"Sorry, we can't do that," Kane said, and the guard began to draw his weapon. "Waste him."

Kane squinted at the bright blast of energy that emerged from Rodger's and William's suits and seared through the man before he could bring his gun up or even take the safety off.

"Let's get inside. Torch anything important. We have three minutes before the Boss wants us out of here, leave the security cameras intact – we want them to see us," Kane said, and followed his men into the building.

He stepped carefully past the man, the burnt hole in the man's chest wafted an unpleasant odor in the air which made him move more quickly, leaving behind a body, and a still smoking sign now engraved with the words '_Mutant Rights Now!'_, a slogan that would be joined by identical ones on the front of the memorial's museum, and the pavement in front of Union Station as they left.

* * *

**Westchester, New York**

"'Mornin', _Sugah_," Rogue said quietly when she saw Remy's eyes slowly crack open.

It wasn't quite morning, the sun wasn't even peeking over the horizon yet, but the glow that foreshadowed that event was starting to become visible, washing out the light of some of the stars on the horizon.

Remy smiled, and rolled his neck to stretch the muscles that had tensed from the way he'd been laying. He turned over on his side to face her, and draped an arm over Rogue's hip. "Good mornin', _Chére_. You get enough sleep?" he asked, his eyes locking with hers.

Rogue nodded. "Yeah, Ah jus' woke up like five minutes ago."

She paused. "Yah were talkin' in your sleep. Bad dreams?" She asked, concerned.

"Mmm," Remy mumbled, stretching, and shaking his head. "_Non_, not dis time. Jus' de opposite, in fact," he said, a devilish smirk appearing on his face.

Rogue rolled her eyes. "Well they better've been about me, mister." She said teasingly.

Remy grinned. "Dey were. Well, you an' a can of whipped cream."

Rogue blushed slightly. "Remy!" She gasped, burying her face into his shirt. She sighed contentedly at the feeling of the rumble of his chest as he chuckled.

She finally moved her head up when he kissed the top of her head, and looked seriously into his eyes. "Maybe, someday…" She said quietly.

Remy's eyebrows rose and his hand came up to touch her cheek. "_Definitely_ someday," he said, knowing she was thinking more about her powers than about the details of his dream. "Dat is, if you're into dat." He said, a slight grin curving his lips.

Rogue smiled, and laughed slightly. "Maybe – guess yah'll jus' hafta find out yahself." She said, the serious moment broken.

He leaned closer, pressing a kiss to her lips, which remained closed. She pulled back after a moment. "Let's wait on more of that," Rogue said softly, "Ah don' think y'want to do more b'fore Ah brush mah teeth."

Remy laughed, and sat up. "Probably a good idea. You go do dat, I'll stop by my room an' do de same, an' then I'll head downstairs t'get breakfast started."

Rogue nodded, and then groaned, reaching up to touch her face. "Ah've gotta clean up too, probably look a mess now."

Remy shook his head, and gave her another close-mouthed kiss before jumping to his feet and reaching down to grab her hand and pull her up with him. "_Non_, it'd take a lot to make y'look like a mess, _ma belle Chére_. But if y'gonna be a while cleanin' up, can you get Sarah up for me when y'done?"

Rogue nodded. "Sure, Remy, see yah downstairs," she said as followed Remy across the roof, letting herself float down onto her balcony while Remy continued along the roof toward his own.

She slid the door open – she'd left the door unlocked in hopes that they _would_ spend the night on the roof like that – and then entered her room. She kicked off the platform shoes she'd worn to get her a bit closer to Remy's height last night, and she padded over to the bathroom in her socks.

'_Ugh_,' she thought to herself, '_Remy's sweet, but he's full of it – I look like crap._'

She shook her head as she looked into the mirror. Her light eyeliner had smeared during the night – Remy likely had some on his shoulder where she'd laid her head – and her light pink-red lipstick had smudged in several places on her lips and completely gone near the corners of her lips, likely worn off during the events of the night. She blinked wearily, and grabbed a cloth and her makeup removal cream.

It was tedious work, but within a few minutes her face was bare, with no hint of makeup on it. She shimmied out of her skirt and her shirt as she moved into the bedroom, grabbing a pair of jeans and a shirt which she laid on the counter by the sink before moving to start the shower.

* * *

Several minutes later, she set down the brush she'd been using on her still slightly-damp hair, and then leaned forward to get a better view to apply a ghosting of eye-shadow.

She set the applicator down, and brushed her hair back a final time with her fingers, before nodding with satisfaction, and left the bathroom.

Rogue turned the doorknob, opening the door to the hallway. It was still early, and she didn't see anyone up and about in the hall, but she heard several noises, movements from different rooms, of people getting ready for the day.

She moved down the hall, and knocked softly on Sarah's door. Sarah's voice called out from inside saying that it was okay to come in, so she opened the door and entered the room, shutting it behind her.

She could smell shampoo and the mirror of the bathroom was all fogged up, so she knew Sarah had been up for a while and taken a shower as well. The pink haired girl sat on her bed – the blinds in front of the balcony door open to allow the dim light of the rising sun in.

A frown of concentration was on her face as looked into the mirror above the dresser and struggled to comb out some tangles from her wet hair. She glanced up, and seemed to forget about her hair as a smile lit up her face. "Rogue!"

"Hey sweetie, Remy wanted me t'make sure yah were up. He's downstairs makin' breakfast." Rogue said, moving across the room to sit down next to her.

Sarah smiled, and grabbed the comb again. "Yep, I'm up, but my hair isn't. I think I slept on it wrong last night."

"C'mere, it's easier when someone else does it," Rogue said softly, reaching out to grab the comb from her hand, and Sarah set the mirror down on the bed.

"Thanks," Sarah said, her hands settling on her lap as she let Rogue begin to run the comb through her hair, gently loosening the several knotted rat's-nests that had formed overnight and been made worse by the shower.

Sarah cleared her throat as one tangle quickly met its demise under Rogue's combing. "Did you have fun with Remy last night?" Sarah asked with a grin as she craned her neck back as far as possible to glance at Rogue.

"Yeah," Rogue smiled back. "It was great. We went to a French restaurant, and walked around the city," she said with a contented voice.

Sarah smiled, wincing for only a moment as the comb caught on one of the tangles. "You got back late last night?"

"Yeah. We went up on the roof when we got back."

Sarah's eyes lit up. "I thought I heard you up there, but I wasn't sure if I was just imagining it or not. An' I didn't want t'interrupt you guys, so I stayed here…." She said, grinning slyly.

Rogue laughed softly. "Thanks, sweetie, it was nice havin' some alone time together."

She ran the comb through Sarah's damp hair once final time, and then set it down. "There yah go."

Sarah turned around, reaching up to touch her hair for a moment, and then hugged Rogue tightly. "Thank you, Rogue, no one's really done something like that for me for a long time. Since my mommy died..."

Rogue frowned, and hugged her back just as tight. "Y'welcome, sweetie. Don' be afraid t'ask for help like that – Ah'm glad to. Remy would be too."

Sarah nodded against her, before pulling back, her eyes damp. "I know. Sometimes I forget I'm not on my own like in th'tunnels."

Rogue nodded, and patted her on the back softly.

Sarah grabbed the comb and mirror, and carried them over to her dresser, before turning around. "Alright, I'm ready," she said, and Rogue followed her from the room.

* * *

Bobby hesitated at the entrance to the library where Kitty was working. They'd barely spoken a word to one another since she'd returned from break, and half a week had passed since.

At first he'd brushed it off to school work – they'd had their big test on Monday, and she'd been working on the hard-drives for Logan, but it had begun to seem like a deliberate avoidance, to the point of her leaving the computer room shortly after he entered.

He had begun to wonder if he'd unwittingly done something to piss her off – he'd had enough experience of doing that while he'd been dating Rogue that it was likely. Or if something had happened during break that had made her avoid him.

He'd tried to talk to Jubilee about it, but she'd said she didn't know anything.

He'd finally talked to Piotr – who, other than Jubilee, was probably the best person to go to when it involved things going on around the mansion.

Talking to him had been like trying to pry a bank vault open with a crowbar. He'd been utterly silent on what was going on with Kitty, and merely said that if Bobby wanted to know, he should ask Kitty herself.

It was what Piotr wouldn't tell him that actually told him something. The way he had tensed up at the question, and been so close-lipped hinted to Bobby that Kitty **had** told him something, and either asked him to say nothing, or he had interpreted it as something he should say nothing about.

And so here he was, taking Piotr's advice to ask Kitty herself. He finally raised his hand, and rapped his knuckles against the doorframe. Kitty waved a hand toward the entrance of the door, gesturing for him to come in.

He looked around the table she was sitting at, bent over a hard drive, trying to link a cable from her computer to the slightly damaged connection port on the hard drive, which she'd repaired as best she could. A bright lamp next to the table had been turned and bent down to shed light on her work.

She set it down, satisfied, as the connection slid into place and her laptop screen flickered as it began to recognize the connected drive. Bobby moved further into the room, and she glanced up, and froze like a deer in the lights of a car when she saw who had entered. "B-Bobby," she said, trailing off hesitantly.

"Kitty, can we talk?" He asked.

She closed her eyes for a moment and sighed shakily, before nodding. "Alright."

He moved to her another chair at the table and sat on the edge of it as she turned her chair to face him. He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. "Kitty, what's going on? We've barely even talked since break ended. Did I do something? Did something happen during break?" He spread his hands out beseechingly. "If it's me, I'm sorry, I don't know what it was. I talked to Jubes and Piotr, but neither of them would even give me a hint of what's up."

Kitty felt a faint smile curve on her lips at the fact that Pete and Jubes had kept it quiet for her - Jubilee had figured it out the day she'd returned, cornering Kitty in her room and getting her to tell her what was wrong.

Kitty moved a hand up to rub at her forehead, and she removed the black-rimmed reading glasses she'd been wearing to work with the hard drives. When her hand moved away, he saw tears begin to well up in her eyes. He sat up straight and reached forward, concerned, to grab her hand but she phased herself and his hand slipped through hers, the movement leaving a pins-and-needles tingling in his fingers.

She shook her head. "My parents are getting divorced, Bobby," she said. "They've been planning it for a while now, and they've been separated for months, and didn't tell me until this weekend. That's what's wrong."

He looked at her with wide eyes. "Kit – you should have told me… I'm sorry."

"That's why I haven't said anything – I don't want you guys making a big deal over it." She reached up to wipe the tears from her cheeks. "It's not like it's uncommon or something like that. People get divorced all the time, right? I don't want to be treated any differently."

Bobby frowned at that, and nodded slowly. "I- if you want to talk about it…"

She shook her head. "No. Thank you, though."

He let her compose herself, before asking the second thing that was still nagging at him. "Why… this explains a lot, but not why you've been avoiding me like I have the Plague or something."

She sighed, and looked up at him, a pained look in her eyes. "Bobby, I've been thinking a lot about relationships the past few days because of.. the divorce, and… I." She looked down. "I don't think I can do this."

"Do what?" He asked, trying to touch her hand again, and it slipped through her phased body once more.

"Us. This… this thing we tried, getting together. I know I said… but… I can't anymore…" She said softly.

His face was frozen in surprise. "Kitty, what… what are you talking about? We were just going to try after break-"

She cut him off. "I know, Bobby, I'm sorry, but the divorce is making me rethink everything. You and me – it reminds me of my mom and dad, and their relationship. It's just…"

She took a deep breath. She'd started thinking about it on the flight back to New York. It had shaken her deeply – she'd always thought her parents loved each other completely, and would never have conceived of the idea of them breaking up. The fact that they'd hidden it, for years most likely from the way they'd talked, had been even more disturbing. Had they ever really loved each other?

It had opened her eyes, and she began to consider if she really had serious feelings for Bobby, or if it was something else, an infatuation or simply an attraction. She'd come to a conclusion she knew Bobby would be upset by, and that had been the reason she'd tried to avoid him until now.

"I think the idea of us while you were with Rogue – it was thrilling. It was the forbidden, flirting with someone I shouldn't have been, because you were with someone else. That made the whole idea even more attractive."

She raised a hand to silence him so she could finish what she was trying to tell him. "Please, Bobby, you're a great guy, but I don't think you're the right one for me. I think we were – or at least I was – in love with the idea, but not with you."

Bobby let out a sigh, running a hand over his face. "Kitty, I don't – I - I broke up with Rogue for you – for us."

"I know," she whispered, tears running down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry, Bobby. I think that was part of it too: I don't want a relationship – not after what happened – that started by breaking up another relationship like that. We hurt Rogue, so badly, and I don't want that to be me in a few months, or a year, or whenever. I love you, Bobby, you're a great friend, and you're funny and cute, but I'm not IN love with you. And I don't want to build something off of that and end up like my parents."

"Kitty…" he began, looking hurt, which made her feel only worse about what she was doing.

She closed her eyes, and stood up. "Bobby, please, understand, I'm sorry." She said, before bolting out of the room, phasing through the chairs in her way, her laptop and the hard drive left forgotten on the table – something that told him she was more upset than he'd realized. She needed time, he thought, time to think before he went after her. He'd learned that lesson the hard way far too many times with Rogue as well.

* * *

Kitty laid motionless, face down on her bed – it had been over an hour since she'd basically broken it off with Bobby. She'd calmed down, her thoughts no longer a jumble like they had been when she'd been talking to Bobby, and she _knew_ she'd done the right thing. Bobby deserved better than her – someone who was in love with more than just the idea of him. And she deserved better as well – a relationship that she felt was right for _her_.

And so, she squeezed her eyes shut at the incessant ringing of the phone next to her bed. She finally groaned, and reached out blindly toward the phone when it didn't stop ringing.

She brought the cordless phone up to her ear and clicked the "Talk" button. "H'lo?"

"Kitty," came the voice of Theresa Pryde over the phone.

Kitty turned over on the bed, sitting up. "Mom? What's wrong?"

"I think you know, honey. I've called you twice since you got back, and you haven't answered or called back."

Kitty winced slightly. "Yeah, sorry, mom, I just… needed time."

Theresa was quiet for a moment. "I understand, honey. I was calling you before just to see how you are. Now I have something to tell you."

"Yeah, I'm doing alright, considering everything. What is it you wanted to tell me?" Kitty asked calmly.

"Today your father and I signed the papers… It's official, filed with the court and all that. I figured you should know. I know you were pretty upset we'd not told you."

Kitty took a deep breath and closed her eyes – it was, as her mother said, official now. No wild hopes that they'd suddenly change their mind would help her ease her mind.

"Thanks for telling me, mom."

"Sweetie… we're sorry we didn't tell you about the divorce, we just were trying…"

"No, mom, I get it," Kitty said with a sigh. "I talked to some friends who helped me realize why you did it. You were trying to protect me. And I know it must've been hard for you guys to tell me. I'm not mad anymore."

Theresa's voice softened. "I'm- glad you understand, Kitty. I should have told you earlier."

"So it's really over?" Kitty asked, her voice breaking slightly.

"Yes, sweetie. Your dad's moved out completely. I'm keeping the house and one of the cars, he's living across town with Anna," she said, mentioning the name of the woman he'd met several months before and begun dating. "Like we told you, it was mutual, there weren't any problems deciding how to split things up."

Theresa sighed. "There's something else I wanted to talk to you about. After you're done this semester, what do you think about coming back home and finishing your degree here?"

Kitty's breath caught in her chest. "W-what?"

"I'd like it if you came closer to home, honey. It's been hard, by myself the last few months."

"Mom, I like it here. I don't want to uproot everything and go to some big Chicago college. I like the class size here, and my professors. I'm not some stranger in a class of hundreds of people. Everyone in the CompSci department knows me – heck, most of the people in the physics department know me too from all the time I've spent in there for class this semester. That's part of why you guys let me come here."

She could almost hear the shake of her mother's head. "No, honey, Xavier's… it was your father who wanted you to go there. I didn't. I only went along with it because you couldn't control your powers, and Xavier's seemed to be the only solution we could find. But now you've got control of them – and I'm so proud of you for that. Do you _really_ need to stay there anymore? There's plenty of small colleges out here the same size as the one you're going to. And for a lot less money because you'd be in-state."

Kitty sighed with frustration. "No, mom, I don't _need_ to stay here – even though I'm still working on ways to use my powers. But I _want_ to stay here. All my friends are here. Did you talk to daddy about this? If it's about money, I know he'd want to keep paying for me to go here. Even if he can't, I'll… I'll figure something out. Start working on campus, working for the Professor – he'd pay for me if I asked him to."

"No! No, sweetie, I didn't mean it like that – we're not having any trouble paying for you. I just… want you closer home." Theresa said.

"I know, mom, it would be nice to be there, but I want to be here. I _need_ to be here. With people that understand me. I'd have to hide who I am at those other colleges."

There was a sudden blare of voices that came over the phone from her mother's side, as if she'd passed a group of people. "Okay, Kitty. I have to get back to the office; I was taking my lunch break. I just want you to think about it for me, okay? Just give it some thought and let me know. I won't be mad if you want to stay at Xavier's."

"Okay, mom, I promise I'll think about it. And… thanks for telling me about the divorce stuff."

"No problem, sweetie, love you."

"Love ya too, mom, bye," Kitty replied, before dropping the phone away from her ear and pressing the power button. She let the phone fall to the side of her bed, and started to stand up. The muscles that had tense up during the conversation began to relax, and she dully placed the handset back on its charger, a pounding headache that had crept up on her now stabbing at her forehead.

A rapping at her door made her groan softly to herself – when Bobby's voice called out it made it even worse. She was emotionally numb from talking to her mother and hearing about the finalization of the divorce, and from her conversation with Bobby earlier. She didn't want to talk to him again.

"Kitty, it's Bobby. I just… wanted to talk," he said, and she could almost see him leaning his arm against the door, resting his forehead on it as he spoke.

When she didn't answer, he continued. "I know you're in there, Kit, Rahne said she saw you go in here. I just… I think we should talk about this. You're going through something big, with your parents… I just want to make sure you're thinking it through without this affecting you. Maybe you're right, maybe we aren't meant to be together, but I want you to be sure this is really how you're feeling, and that it's not something else."

Kitty placed a hand over her mouth, biting back the part of her that wanted to reply – if she had to deal with this again, she felt like her head would explode. She needed to leave, get outside, _something_.

"Kitty?" Bobby called again. "Damnit, Kitty, I just want to talk to you. I'm going to open the door, okay Kitty?"

As the doorknob started to turn, she made her decision, and darted away from her bed, toward the wall across her bed.

By the time a confused Bobby looked around the room, she was already phasing through the wall two rooms away. She ignored the startled glances of those she passed in front of, Sam and Rogue being the two whose rooms she'd run through.

What she couldn't ignore was when she startled Piotr. It wasn't that she would have stopped – it was that she _had_ to. She burst through his wall, through the mirror of his dresser as he finished sliding on a t-shirt mere feet in front of her. He physically flinched back, and then his body shifted into its automatic defense of changing into pure organic metal.

Her powers couldn't phase her quick enough to keep moving through his shifting body, and she ran into him with a clanging thud – shocked back into her tangible form, she fell back against the dresser. The impact in her intangible phased form felt like it had weeks ago when Gambit had swept her feet out from under her with a kick as she phased.

"Kitty!" Piotr said, shifting back to his regular form when he realized who had just run into him. "Are you alright?" he asked, grabbing her arm and helping her up.

"Ow," she said as he steadied her on her feet, and she reached up to tenderly touch her nose and then her forehead, both of which felt like she had run into… well, a tall metallic man. "Yeah, I think so. Sorry, didn't mean to surprise you like that. Your shifting happened too fast for me to phase through."

"No, I am sorry, Kitty, it's a reflex and I had no idea that it would keep you from phasing. I think you might get a bruise," he said. His hand which was much larger than her own, she found herself noting through the pounding pain of her now much worse headache, reached up to press two fingers lightly to her forehead, and she winced.

"You need to do something about that," he said, turning toward a corner of his room where he kept his minifridge – a staple among the students because of how crowded the main fridge could get. He reached into the upper part where a small section was closed off as the freezer, and retrieved a blue gel icepack, and handed it to her as she sat down unsteadily on the edge of his bed, her body still feeling odd from the unexpected blocking of her phasing abilities.

"Thanks, Pete," she said, and put to cold pack against her forehead, hissing at the sting. Her head had turned enough as she hit that her nose had missed the brunt of the force and likely wouldn't give her raccoon-eye bruises – something she'd experienced once in a bike accident that had nearly broken her nose. "Do you have any Advil or something like that? I had a headache already, and now it's even worse."

Piotr nodded, and walked over to the bathroom, retrieving a bottle of Advil from somewhere within, and returning with it and a glass of water. She took it gratefully, and downed three of the capsules from the bottle.

She handed him the empty glass of water, which he placed on the nightstand before he sat down on the bed next to her. "So, why'd you decide to come charging through my room?" He asked teasingly.

Kitty blushed slightly at that. "Sorry, Pete, I wasn't thinking when I did it – I probably scared the crap out of Rogue and Sam, too. I just – I needed to get out of my room."

"What's wrong?" He asked quietly.

"My mom called," Kitty said.

"Oh. The divorce?" Piotr asked her, looking at her with concern.

"Yeah," she said, scooting further back on the bed awkwardly as she held the ice to her forehead. She pulled her knees upward, and sat cross-legged next to him. "They, you know, signed everything today and filed it. It's official now."

"I'm sorry," Piotr said, tentatively placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Still hurts, but not as much anymore after I talked to you Saturday," she said with a small shrug. "I'd been avoiding talking to her until now. We made up, told her I understood why she didn't tell me."

She shook her head slightly. "Then she tried to talk me into going back home and finishing college there after this semester."

Piotr glanced quickly at her. "Really?"

Kitty sighed. "Yeah, I guess she's lonely back there. But I told her no. I don't want to leave this place," she said, gesturing around the room. "This's the only place I really fit in, y'know?"

Piotr nodded, "Yeah, I feel the-"

Knocking on his door caused him to break off what he was saying. "Who is it?"

Kitty winced when she heard Bobby's voice. "Hey Pete, you seen Kitty?"

Piotr opened his mouth, automatically starting to nod. Kitty's hand shot out and grabbed his arm, and he paused to look at her. She shook her head, lowering the hand that was holding the icepack to put a finger to her lips.

He looked at her questioningly, and she repeated the gesture. "I- I haven't seen her, Bobby, sorry," he said aloud.

"Not even, like, last hour or so?" Bobby asked through the door.

"No, sorry, I've been in here since breakfast – I'm actually about to take a shower and head down for a late lunch."

"Alright," Bobby said, disappointment clear in his voice. "Thanks, Pete."

Piotr waited until he heard Bobby walk away down the hall, before turning to Kitty again, an eyebrow raised. "You didn't want to talk to him," he said.

Kitty groaned, and put the icepack back on her forehead. "No. That was actually part of the reason I was running through the walls – he came to my room and I didn't want to talk to him."

She glanced up at Piotr, a helpless look in her eyes. "I pretty much broke up with him earlier, and he didn't take it too well, and I – I was crying the whole time and probably sounded like an idiot, and that didn't help."

Piotr's eyes widened at that. "Y-you broke up with him?" He asked, surprise evident in his voice.

Kitty nodded. "About an hour or so ago. I've been thinking about it a lot lately, with Mom and Dad divorcing, and I realized, after all that crap we went through, what it did to Rogue, I couldn't live with myself after that. I realized I loved the concept of dating him, before we did anything, but I don't really love him."

"I'd been avoiding him," she continued, looking down at her lap, "till I could figure out a better way to tell him, but I guess he figured out something was up." She glanced up at Piotr, her eyes dancing. "I heard you wouldn't tell him anything about what happened."

Piotr smiled, and shrugged. "Even though you didn't ask me to, I figured you wouldn't want me just telling people, so I told Bobby he should ask you himself if he wanted to know anything."

"Thanks," she said.

"Pete… did I do the right thing, breaking up with him?" She asked, her voice filing with uncertainty.

He bit his tongue to keep himself from being tempted to respond how he wanted. "I-I don't know, Kitty. I think if you're happy, and you think it was the best thing for you, then it was the right thing to do."

She quirked a small smile up at him, leaning forward with her elbows resting on her knees, finally realizing his hand was still resting comfortingly on her arm. She reached up and touched his hand with the tips of her fingers. "Then I think it was the right thing. Do – do you mind if I hang out here for a while? I'll talk to Bobby later, but right now I don't want to run into him."

Piotr shook his head, his cheeks coloring slightly when she touched his hand. "No, stay as long as you want, Kitty. And actually, if you want to keep busy and keep your thoughts off of things, I was going to ask you for some help with my computer. My internet browsers keep crashing after I use them for more than a few minutes, and I don't have clue what's wrong with them."

Kitty grinned, and gave his hand a pat with her free one. She let her other hand slowly drop, the ice moving away from her forehead to reveal a pinkish-purple discoloration. "Alright, Pete, show me it," she said, standing up and moving in the direction of his desk. She was glad he'd understood, being a close friend of Bobby's as well, and that he had recognized her need to keep her thoughts elsewhere.

* * *

Rogue moved up slowly and quietly behind Remy, and nearly took him by surprise when she wrapped her arms around his waist. He twisted around, and his arms automatically moved around her and he rested his palms on the small of her back.. "Hey, _Chére_."

"Ah'm ready for mah class, Professor LeBeau," she said teasingly, "Am Ah your first student?"

Remy grinned – since taking over the phys-ed classes, he'd done some thinking about the college group, and decided to break them up and work with them individually on self-defense, and had set up times in the week for each of them.

Logan had done some work with Rogue, and Scott had done the basics with the entire team, but they hadn't really hadn't had much beyond that. It was an important thing to learn in his opinion, especially for Rogue to help her get a better handle on controlling her strength.

"_Oui_, Piotr's later today, an' de rest aren' 'till t'morrow an' dis weekend." He pulled back and ran his eyes over her attire – a pair of old sweatpants, and a t-shirt with sleeves down to just past her elbows.

"Now, I thought I tol' you to wear a trainin' outfit," he said, a mock frown on his face.

Her lips twitched for a moment, and she looked down at her clothes. "This's what Ah usually wear….." she said hesitantly.

Remy reached forward, settling his hands on her waist. "It'll do for t'day, but y'should wear somethin' less baggy. Harder to move in dis." He leaned down, kissing her forehead. "An' y'don' have to worry 'bout hidin' your skin with me."

Rogue nodded, smiling sheepishly. "Ah guess Ah did sorta automatically dress t'do that. Sorta comes natural now, yknow?"

Remy smiled. "I know, _Chére_. It was de same for me." He moved his hands from her waist, and grabbed her hand. "C'mon, let's get started."

Several minutes later, they were in the Danger Room, standing in front of a large padded training dummy he'd programmed to give maximum resistance. The room, and recent upgrades in the last year, had been designed with the increased strengths of many mutants in mind – Piotr could work with it without fearing wrecking it in his metallic form. Remy hoped that it would be enough for Rogue's strength.

He leaned up against the training dummy, and spread his hands out. "Alrigh', _Chére_, first a little background. _Savate_ started way back in de 1800's, with sailors an' dock workers, 'specially around Marseilles. 'Specially sailors – dey needed to be able to hold onto somethin' to keep their balance, an' still be able t'fight, so they used a lot of kicks."

"It spread through de port cities, an' became a common self defense technique. Den, over time, it brought in boxing from England, an' mixed it t'gether to become _Savate_. Remember, dis was after de French Revolution, an' dere was a lot of unrest in de country."

"Lately it's been mostly turned into a sport-art, but it's still taught some places for self defense – dat's what I'm gonna teach you: _Savate de Rue_."

Rogue nodded. "Okay, how do we start?"

"Logan teach you anythin' about throwin' punches?"

"Yeah," she said, her hands closing into fists, coming up near her face in a typical stance. "A bit – mostly it was defensive things though."

Remy smiled. "Good. Punchin' in _Savate_ is a lot like boxin', so we can work on that later on if I see anythin' I want us to work on. So let's get to the kicking."

He pushed off of the dummy, and stood fully. "Dis is all about bein' able to kick – we throw as many kicks as we do punches. Your legs have got 'least twice de muscle of your hands, an' can hit a hell of a lot harder. My _Professeur_ – he teaches both de sporting version an' de street type – used t'be a fighter himself. In one match in Japan 'gainst one of their fighters, he got both arms broken at de beginning of de fight, an' he won it by knockout wit' just with kicks."

Rogue's eyebrows rose. "Wow – that's pretty intense."

Remy grinned and nodded. "Yeah."

"Alrigh', what we're gonna work on t'day is a move called de _chassé bas_. It's one of de easier moves t'learn, but it c'n be one of de most important. It can be used to keep your opponent at a distance, force dem back from you in a fight. An' if you hit right you could take out their kneecap – take dem out of de fight."

He turned to face the training dummy and gestured at his hand. "With de _chassé bas_, you're aimin' at around your opponent's thigh – dere's other versions of dis kick that go for de stomach an' higher, but we'll get to those later. You're shoving his thigh back, which can snap his knee straight, an' also knock him off balance."

"It goes like dis." He snapped off a forward-facing kick that went so fast she realized he was moving only as she heard the sharp sound of his foot making contact with the padded training dummy.

He glanced over at her. "Okay, now slower so you can see just how to do it," he said, repeating the kick, this time exaggerating his motion. "Up, an' den your knee snaps your foot forward."

He repeated it several times, until she finally nodded. "Alrigh', Ah think Ah have the idea."

He moved out of the way and circled behind her as she took his place in front of the training dummy, and tried to imitate his movements, while limiting the strength she put into the kick.

Remy shook his head. "_Non_, you're turnin' your knee too much to de side before as you kick. You want to use your knee to aim – just keep it up like dis, pointed at de target," he said, patting lifting his leg into the first step of the kick, and showing her where her knee should be.

Rogue nodded. "Alrigh', like this?"

She repeated the kick, and turned to look to Remy, who smiled and nodded.

"Dat's a lot better," he said. "Again – I want t'check out somethin' else."

Her foot lashed out, striking the dummy with a loud thud once again, and started to turn, only to find Remy already right next to her.

"You need t'use your hips more," he said, placing his hands on her hips, and she blushed slightly at his closeness. "Here, start kickin' slowly, an' I'll correct you as you go."

As she raised her leg, starting to snap her leg forward, his hands applied a light pressure on her hips to twist them, the force from the movement in the direction of the kick adding to the force, causing a louder thud.

"Like dat. Dis uses your hips along wit' your knee. Try it that way dis time."

She repeated the kick, turning her hips into it this time, and he grinned. "Good. Little more turnin' an' you're gettin' dere. Let's keep workin' on dis, because you look a little jerky puttin' de two together, an' we want it nice an' smooth movement."

* * *

Nearly an hour later, Remy nodded in satisfaction as Rogue moved forward, kicking out with one foot and then swiftly shifting her stance to kick with the other, nearly perfectly, before throwing several jabs into the training dummy.

Once he'd had her practice enough to begin smoothing her movements out, he'd started having her work with both legs, using the kick equally well with both – something important in Savate, because if you got too predictable, your opponent would be able to counter you. Interspersed amongst the training were small breaks in which he'd gotten her to show him her jabs, which were dead on.

"Okay, _Chére_, that's enough for today," Remy said, setting a hand on her shoulder.

Rogue relaxed and turned around, her face and clothes covered with sweat from the hour of training, and her cheeks rosy, her breath coming in small pants. She moved an arm up, wiping several beads of sweat from her forehead before they dripped down into her eyes. "Am Ah doin' better?"

Remy nodded, grinning. "Damn good, _Chére_. You're catchin' on fast – I figured we'd still be workin' on dis kick next week, but I think we can jus' go over it for a few minutes, an' den move on to somethin' else."

A pleased smile came to Rogue's face at the praise. "Thanks, Remy. This's fun. Ah think mah trainin' with Logan has definitely helped me."

Remy nodded thoughtfully, leaning forward to briefly touch his lips to hers. "Probably. I hope de others catch on as fast – it'll make dis all a lot easier."

"You teachin' them all _Savate_?" She asked, grabbing a towel he'd set near the entrance to the Danger Room, and used it to dab at the moisture on her face and neck.

Remy shrugged. "Not sure. Piotr, Dani, Bobby an' Sam for sure, gotta ask Lorna if she wants in on dis but I'd teach her de same – they've got de reach an' de muscle mass, you, Lorna, an' Dani are both built perfect for it. Not sure 'bout Kitty an' Jubes – I think _Aikido_ might be better for dem: dey're shorter, an' got really slight builds, an' I ain' sure _Savate _would be de best for dem. _Aikido_ is alot 'bout fightin' mainly a larger opponent, an' turning their force an' their weight against dem when dey attack you."

"You know _Aikido_ too?" Rogue asked curiously.

Remy shook his head. "Took some time to learn de basics of it, but not much more. Maybe I can get de Prof. to set dem up wit' an _Aikido_ class in town."

"I know de basics of a lot of martial arts – when I fight I'm always changing, an' mixin' dem together, because it makes it a hell of a lot harder for someone to figure out what I'm gonna do next. But I'm only really experienced in _Savate_ an' wit' _Taekwondo_, which is a lot like _Savate_ – big emphasis on de kicks. Maybe American Kickboxin', which is basically poor-man's _Savate de Rue_ dumbed down to start wit' mainly all punches an' finish off wit' kicks."

Rogue smiled, and followed him out of the Danger Room after they'd cleaned up. "This was a great idea, Remy – teachin' ev'ryone like this."

Remy shrugged. "Well, you were de one dat gave it to me. I was tryin' to come up wit' stuff to have you guys do for your phys ed classes, an' I remembered you askin' me to teach you _Savate_, so I figured ev'ryone else might as well learn too."

Rogue stopped as they neared the changing rooms, running a hand through her damp hair. "Glad you're th'one doin' it," she said softly. "Ah- Ah better go shower, yah really got me sweatin' t'day."

"Okay," Remy nodded, "see you upstairs."

* * *

"Hello," a voice came from the entrance to Annie's office, startling her from the form she was filling out to order some new medical supplies. She looked up, and her eyes widened when she saw a stocky man whose body was covered completely in blue fur. He wore a shirt and pants, as well as a pair of glasses that gave him a somewhat sophisticated look.

"Hi," Annie said, standing up.

The man smiled, and extended his hand, shaking hers. "You must be Annie. Charles mentioned he'd hired you. I'm Hank."

Annie nodded, smiling, "I recognize you – Dr. McCoy, Secretary of Mutant Affairs. I've been an admirer – I gave thought of going into politics years ago – bring a little bit of my medical knowledge into a place I could have more influence."

Hank gave her a small nod. "Yes, well, unfortunately politics are a tough business – I resigned two weeks ago. The president's been keeping it under wraps for a while until the Alcatraz incident cools down in the news."

"Oh," Annie said, looking at him with surprise. "I'm sorry to hear that. I'd heard people had seen you around the mansion, but I hadn't realized it wasn't on Mutant Affairs business."

Hank nodded. "Unfortunately the President and I had a difference in opinion over weaponizing the cure. They chose to do it without consulting me, or even asking my opinion on the potential fallout in the public of such a move."

He spread his hands outward. "So, Charles invited me to come back to the mansion – I was once one of the X-Men, you see, one of the first students Charles taught. I moved on to go finish my education elsewhere and move into politics, but I have many fond memories here. So, I'm afraid you'll be seeing much more of me around here," he said, flashing her a white-toothed grin.

Annie chuckled. "Well that will be nice – although I'm sorry you lost your job."

Hank shrugged slightly. "I learned long ago not to count on a job to too much of an extent when you are in the political realm."

He looked around the office, as if noticing it for the first time. "My, I must say, this office looks extraordinarily better than it did when it was mine. One of my biggest flaws is the inability to keep a clean and non-cluttered office. I know Jean wasn't much neater," he said, "so my congratulations at managing to clean up a decade's long mess."

Annie blushed faintly. "Thank you, Dr. McCoy – I guess I'm a bit… intense… when it comes to neatness. Always suspected a mild case of OCD," she said with a laugh.

"Please, just Hank. And I know what you mean. I often wonder if most scientists have a hint of it. Unfortunately, mine only seems to appear in the realm of the written word, and not the messy office. I can obsess for hours over getting my memos or scientific papers precisely how I want them."

He glanced at the clock on her wall. "Alas, I must get going – I drive to the airport – I am finishing packing up my apartment back in D.C., and I have to be there tomorrow to let the moving company in. And make sure they don't drop any of my instruments."

"Alright, Hank," Annie nodded, "It was nice to meet you – hopefully I'll see you around more often now. In fact, perhaps we could talk over coffee some morning – I'm very interested in your research on the X-Gene, and its heritability. I'm not a mutant, but my son Carter is, so the topic has interested me since I found out he was."

Hank smiled, and shook her hand once more. "Certainly, I enjoy discussing my work, especially with a fellow medical colleague who actually can grasp it. It was a pleasure meeting you," he said warmly.

After he'd left, Annie shook her head in amazement, thinking about how far she'd come. A couple years ago, she'd have been too petrified by such a physically visible mutant like Hank to even say a word to him, let alone have a conversation like she just had.

She'd never really understood the fear she'd had for mutants, but the revelation that her son was one had been the first shock that made her face it and overcome it. The time spent here at the mansion, making friends, seemed to have banished any remaining vestiges of it.

* * *

_"So far, there are ten confirmed dead, and several dozen are injured – three in the intensive care unit. Officials are estimating thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages to the buildings attacked. This attack in Kansas City is just the latest in a recent rash of attacks on city and state government properties and local city landmarks across the country being attributed to mutant groups. Vague stories of mutants using their abilities have been told by eyewitnesses to the rash of attacks, and may be related to the recent Magneto capture and his terrorist actions."_

_The view on the screen flipped to a picture of Worthington Labs from before the battle there._

_"In San Francisco, a young mutant is attempting to gain help from the ACLU to sue Worthington Labs, due to a claimed inefficacy of their mutant cure, claiming they were part of the early batch receivers in private trials that occurred close to a month ago. The unnamed mutant is claiming damages due to their powers supposedly returning just days ago." The newscaster said, his tone somewhat bored as he read the top stories._

_"The ACLU has already expressed interest in helping the case, and the mutant was unable to be reached before this broadcast. Worthington Labs released a statement assuring us that their cure was flawless, suggesting that the mutant was never part of any trials of the cure product and simply attempting to cheat them out of their money, or spread fear amongst mutants that have taken or are considering taking the cure._

Logan jabbed the remote, turning off the TV set with a shake of his head, turning his attention to the door to his bedroom which had opened moments before. He'd known who it was that was coming before she'd even hesitated outside the doorway for several minutes, but he'd let wait until she was ready to open the door.

"Yet more bad news involving mutants?" The beautiful white-haired weather witch asked as she rolled her eyes at the now silent television.

Logan grunted. "When is there anything else?" he asked the woman who'd been on his mind – even as he slept – over the past few days, and he stood up from the bed.

Ororo smiled ruefully. "Exactly. I wish there was more positive – it's just so depressing hearing this day after day, the mutant hate growing in volume in this country."

"It'll change, Darlin'," Logan said. "Just like it changed for all th'other persecuted people in the past. Sure, we ain' exactly there for some folks yet, but we're gettin' there. It just takes time to changes people's minds, 'specially when they been raised to think different."

She nodded. "You're right, I guess."

Logan grinned for a moment, and then looked at her seriously. "So what brings ya up here?"

"Well, I'm done teaching classes for the day, and I kind of felt like getting outside. I… I wondered if you'd like to take a walk through the grounds like we used to….."

Logan inclined his head, and gestured for the door. "Alrigh', sure thing."

* * *

"Workin' with Remy to get the boundaries more secure," Logan said, nodding off toward the forest where – much farther in – their fence had been easily circumvented in Remy's test of the security.

Logan sighed. "Just lookin' at his plans, I can see its gonna be damn expensive… but once we get that thing in place, ain't nothin' gonna get in here – 'least without us knowin' about it beforehand. No more of the bullshit Stryker pulled."

Ororo smiled. "I'd expect nothing less of him. Any idea when it might be done?"

Logan shook his head. "No, he's still plannin' and pricin'. Best bet is late this summer, before the new school year starts, at the latest for full operation."

Ororo nodded. "Hopefully it will mean fewer early-morning wakeup test runs," she said with a chuckle, "Sorry about that by the way."

Logan smiled and shrugged, his shoulder bumping gently into hers as they walked. "No problem. He was jus' doin' what we'd agreed to th'week before."

Logan glanced over to her, meeting her eyes. "Actually glad you invited the Cajun to the mansion. Wasn' sure about him when he first got here, but I think we really needed someone like him showing up here. He's a good kid."

Storm sighed, and smiled softly. "I know. I can't imagine what would have happened the last few weeks if he hadn't been here."

"Me neither. 'Cept for Rogue." Logan shook his head, grimacing. "Things wouldn't have gone good with her. I was the only one really close to her before the Cajun. I mean, you and Annie were great friends to here – she really needed that – but there's friends, and then there's family. I was her only really _family_ for the longest time, an' she closed herself off from ev'ryone else in that way."

"Now she's changed so much, an' she's got Remy an' Sarah in that same spot as I am, an' she's startin' to open up to everyone else, too. An' if it weren't for Remy, she'dve taken th'Cure. No doubt in my mind."

Ororo sighed, and looked off, staring into the woods. "I was pretty harsh to her back a few weeks ago when we first heard about it."

Logan shook his head. "She knows y'didn't mean anything by all that."

Ororo smiled slightly. "I know that. But now I'm finding myself wishing I'd thought it through a bit more. Some people, like Rogue, should have the chance to get the Cure if they want to – no one should _have_ to live like that."

She shook her head. "But enough about that - this is fun," Ororo said, her hand nudging Logan's playfully. "It's been quite a while since we've walked together like this."

Logan smiled, and slowly, but deliberately let the tips of his fingers entwine with hers. "I know, things just ain' been the same. No time, ev'rythin's been busy."

"And Jean," she murmured, a hint of wistfulness and frustration laced deep in her voice.

"And Jean," Logan agreed. "Ain' nothin' been normal since Jeannie came back."

He sighed and grimaced, looking up at Ororo's expression. "Sorry it hasn't been. Things're just… different… weird….."

"You love her," Ororo said calmly, little expression audible in her voice.

Logan nodded. "I do – in some way. But things are different now. I know I'm gonna be the second person in her life. Even if Scott really is dead, he'd always gonna be that big part of her – she made that choice before Alkali."

"You an' me, though, Darlin'…." He said softly, stopping and placing a hand on her shoulder. "I thought we might have… somethin'. Before all this, I thought we were goin' somewhere with all this."

She swallowed heavily, feeling her breath stop in her chest when he said what she'd been feeling all this time.

He shrugged, running a hand through his hair with a sigh of frustration. "Damnit, you know I'm shit at this sorta thing. I just…. I've felt like there was somethin' with us, somethin' developin'. an' I've decided that I wanna maybe take the chance and see where this goes."

Ororo stopped walking, pulling him to a halt next to her. "Really?" She asked quietly. "I mean I – I guess I thought it might just be one-sided for me…"

Logan shook his head, and reached up to twirl a strand of her pure white hair around a finger. "I've felt it too, darlin'. I've been thinkin' about it a lot lately. So lets try it. See how it goes from there. If things don't work out, let's agree to say good friends."

"Okay," Ororo said, her eyes bright. She suddenly had the urge to hug the life out of Annie for being smart enough to get her to keep trying – obviously things between him and Jean weren't quite as serious or deep as she'd been afraid of – a good thing for her. "We'll try it. If it doesn't work, it'll just have been…. Friends with benefits for a while."

Logan laughed quietly, "Alright."

The next moment was a blur to Ororo, as she moved instinctively closer, and her moist, soft lips touched his chafed, rough ones in a tender kiss that lasted only for a second.

She pulled away, breathing heaver, her eyes clouded with something that put his animal instincts on high alert. "Thank you," she whispered, leaning forward to press her cheek against his chest.

"_My_ pleasure," Logan said, huskily, "even if it wasn't really expected."

She laughed softly, her voice muffled by the fabric of his shirt, and then turned her face upward slightly. "Sorry, I've been wanting to do that for weeks now. I just couldn't help myself."

Logan shook his head, and reached down to grab her hands in his. "Don't be. I…" He broke off, and looked down, a thumb running across her fingers. "I want to do it again, but I don't want us to mess things up by going too fast."

Ororo nodded. "You're right." Her eyes moved up to meet his. "I don't want to push things either. Let's just… keep walking like we were."

Logan smiled slightly, and pulled away.

And this time, as they walked closer to the forest surrounding the school, Ororo's hand slipped lightly into his.

* * *

_**A/N**__: Hey all, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Again, not a whole ton of action, other than savate and the beginning scene, but a lot of character development. Hope the Bobby/Kitty breakup is turning out alright, it was a bit tough to get down – I think it's the next big step in Bobby's development as a character. Little bit for the Ororo/Logan lovers out there – they'll at least give it a try, but we'll see where exactly it goes. _

_Next chapter will be less character building, and more plot progression – S.H.I.E.L.D., and a whole lot more._

_I've been pondering the future of the fic. I figure there's 5-10 chapters left to tie up the things I want to tie up. That doesn't mean the end of the story, however. I've been thinking about the best way to go about it, and I've decided I have enough in plotlines and ideas to keep this story going for quite a while._

_I've decided I'll end in ~10 chaps, and then begin a sequel – that way it'll be broken into more manageable parts for newer readers, because I know personally that I'm more likely to read a 20-40 chapter fic with several sequels of similar size than I am to read a 50-80 chapter fic. I'm sure there's some sort of psychology behind it. _

_So, around ten chapters left, and then a sequel to the story that I've got quite a few recent ideas for._

_Thanks you all for reviewing, see you next chapter._


	27. Chapter 27: SHIELD

_**Disclaimer: X-Men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-Men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway ;)**_

_A/N: Hey everyone, nice to get out an update about a week from the last one – it's been a while since I've been able to. Hope you guys like the chapter, and thanks for all the feedback and reviews last chap!_

**Chapter 27: SHIELD**

* * *

"Lookin' better," Remy said as he moved his hands into place so the padded training mitts he was wearing met Danielle's kick. "Let's stop here; we've worked enough on _savate_."

Dani nodded and then shook her head to keep her sweat out of her eyes. She walked several steps to a nearby tree, and grabbed a half-full bottle of water, which she quickly guzzled down. She reached back and lifted her thick ponytail of hair from her neck, hoping it would help her cool down a bit. She'd worn a thin tanktop and shorts, and was glad she had when Remy had taken her outside for training.

"After you made me run a mile and then kick for an hour, I'd say it's enough," she said grumpily, "my legs are gonna be sore for _days_."

Remy chuckled. "Hey, dat jus' means you're buildin' your muscles. Nothin' wrong wit' a good ache after a workout. 'Sides, you're doin' pretty decent – you, Piotr, and Rogue all seem t'be learnin' at 'bout de same speed, least on your first sessions."

He saw a small pleased smile flit across her face at that as he un-velcroed the straps of the sparring pads around his wrists and yanked them off, tossing them to the side. He sat down, leaning his back up against a nearby tree, and he grabbed his own water bottle, sighing in satisfaction when he found that keeping it in the shade had allowed it to remain somewhat cool in the rather warm weather of the day.

He gestured at the forest around them – they were right at the edge of the open clearing and the forest, far into the property, near the horse pastures. "_Très jolie_ out here in de spring."

Dani nodded slowly, "Yep. Back in Denver we'd be planning for a May snowstorm or two to interrupt weather like this," she said with a slight laugh in her voice.

Remy shook his head. "Definitely not somethin' I'm used to. Down in N'awlins we'd have been dis warm for de last few months at least."

He pushed back from the tree trunk using his elbows. "So… Dani…. I know it's been awhile since we talked 'bout it – before break – but how's workin' on your power comin'? We haven' had a big exercise wit' de others so I been curious."

Dani shrugged, her hands picking at the grass below her legs. "It's alright. Better than before. Worked on it over Break, and the last few days."

"Hit me with it." Remy said, and her eyes shot up to his face to see his expression was quite serious.

"I- I couldn't. It's, it can be really intense-"

He shook his head. "You won' be showin' me anythin' I ain' dreamt ev'ry night myself."

Dani frowned and then her expression softened when she realized what he was talking about – she and the other X-Men-in-training had been at the meeting in which he'd revealed how he'd been hired by the perpetrators of the New York Tunnel Massacre. "I- are you sure?"

Remy nodded. "I am. You don' need t'be afraid of what your powers can do. Dey're a part of you. I had de same problem – took me a damn long time before I would touch a person after I got full control , still scared I'd somehow blow dem up. But it took a big burden off when I finally faced de fear of dem."

Dani sighed deeply, but finally and reluctantly shook her head. "Alright. Just… don't freak out."

A look of concentration passed over her face, and her hand reached out slightly in his direction. After several long seconds, she frowned, and seemed to concentrate harder.

She finally let out the breath she'd been holding, and looked at him with confusion. "I can't do it. My powers aren't picking up anything from you."

One of Remy's eyebrows rose. "Ah, y'powers must use some sorta telepathy to find things de other person fears. My mind's pretty well blocked by my own powers. I could, y'know, try to pull in my energy, open my mind a bit."

"No-" Dani said, her hand darting out quickly to grab his forearm. "Please, don't. It's nice to know someone I can't effect. Between this and Rogue, I think it might actually help me get over my block."

"Rogue?" Remy asked curiously.

"Well, over break, Rogue and I started trying out my power on her to get over my problems, and we've done it a few times since we got back."

Remy smiled slightly at that. He wasn't surprised in the least – Rogue, like himself, understood more than anyone about problems with mutant abilities, and fear of using them.

"With most people I could use my powers a dozen times and my abilities would pick up a different fear – most don't have a 'greatest' fear, but a collection of worst fears. That's a big part of why I don't like to do it, because I never know what I'll bring to the surface." Dani said.

"But with Rogue, it's so simple – there's only one thing that ever comes up, and we both already knew what it would be. That really is her 'greatest' fear, and I guess none of her other ones come close to matching it."

Remy's eyes darkened slightly. "Her powers." He said softly.

She nodded. "Her powers - standing over you and me and the rest of her friends, all of us drained by her powers."

Remy sighed. "Up till de Tunnels, mine woulda been de same – m'powers goin' outta control." He glanced up at her curiously. "You ever tried usin' dem with your own mind? Projectin' somethin' dat you're thinkin'?"

Dani shook her head, a contemplative look on her face. "No, never thought of that. Guess I've been more worried about keeping my powers from doing anything…"

Remy leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, and gestured with his hand. "Give it a try. Jus', do what you usually do but think 'bout what you want to project."

Dani held her hand forward, pointing it toward the open field in front of them, her tongue peeking out from the corner of her mouth, which was set firmly. For nearly a minute she sat there, and her muscles in her hand started to tremble.

Then, suddenly, the air in front of them started to shimmer, like warm air rising off the blacktop on a hot day, or a mirage in the desert. In the next instant, the view of the mansion was blocked by an enormous bear with shaggy brown hair. It towered over them, its head nearly the size of Remy and Dani's bodies combined – its height enough that it would likely be able to reach the second floor of the mansion while standing on all fours. Eyes with an unnatural reddish glow glared at them as it snarled, its muzzle covered in foam like a rabid dog, with long strands of saliva dripping from its fangs. And then it lunged toward them with speed and agility that belied its enormous size.

"_Merde_," Remy muttered, reflexively somersaulting backwards from his sitting position into a crouch, his entire deck of cards splayed out in one hand, glowing with energy.

"Holy shit-" was all that managed to make its way out of Dani's surprised throat as she tried to stand up and scuttle backwards. She failed, tripping over her own feet, and when she landed back down with a hard thud, the bear shimmered, and then disappeared.

Remy remained crouched, the energy form his hand pulsating in and out of the cards with his rapid breaths, until Dani shakily began to stand up, her own breath-rate just as rapid.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry, Remy," she said, and he slowly let the kinetic charge fade from the cards.

"What de hell was dat?" Remy asked flatly, straightening up and brushing off the pair of jeans he'd worn.

"I- I'm sorry, that was one of my illusions."

"Shit, girl, dat's one damn good illusion." He said. "Dey shoulda been workin' on your powers for a long time now. Didn' realize exactly what you meant by 'illusion'. Thought it was jus' somethin' projected in someone's head, but we both saw dat."

"No, if I'm not focusing on someone in particular it will look different to each person but if I focus on one thing like just now it's the same for everyone."

"Alright, now I know. Next time, let's try to not do de demonic bear tryin' to eat our faces off, _hein_?" He asked with a shaky laugh.

Dani shot him a wan smile. "I'm – I wasn't trying to bring that one out, I guess my powers are just still stuck on bringing out fears right now, so it brought out one of mine. I used to have nightmares about that thing all the time when I was little, and still have them once or twice a year. Don't have a clue what the hell they mean."

Remy nodded, and patted her on the shoulder. "S'alright, you're still gettin' de hang of it all."

Dani closed her eyes to compose herself, exhaling softly, "Never really scared myself with my own illusions before."

Remy smiled. "Well, I don' know 'bout you, but I'm gonna head in an' clean up. Maybe change my boxers."

Dani chuckled softly. "Alright, I think that's enough powers for today. Thanks, by the way, for teaching us like this, and… for being understanding with my powers."

Remy nodded, and slid his cards back into his pants pocket. "_De rien,"_ he said, stooping down to scoop up the training mitts he'd borrowed from the exercise room before following her on the trek back toward the mansion.

* * *

Lorna shifted the bundle of clothes she was carrying to one arm so she could reach out to hit the down button for the third floor elevator panel. As she did so, she cursed silently when several pairs of socks slipped from her grasp and fell to the floor – she'd gone out to town with Ororo who'd used the school expense account to get her enough clothes to last her for a while, and now she was on her last set of clothes and needed to wash them.

She started to bend down, when a pair of feet appeared in front of her, and their owner of those feet bent down and scooped up the socks. "Hey, here ya go," said the young Asian teen who'd picked them up, her large hoop earrings swaying back and forth like pendulums at her movements.

"Thanks," Lorna said, smiling. "You're… Jubes, right? Rogue's friend?"

She nodded. "Jubilee, but Jubes is fine. If you call me Jubilation we might have problems," she said with a cheery grin.

Lorna laughed, grabbing the socks from her hand. "Alright, Jubes it is then. I'm Lorna."

Jubilee nodded, and raised an eyebrow. "I'd shake your hand, but it looks like they're full. You goin' down?"

Lorna nodded. "Gotta do laundry."

"Gotcha," Jubilee said, hitting the button to call the elevator.

Jubilee glanced over at her as they waited for the elevator to make its way up to their floor. "So… where're you from?"

"San Francisco," Lorna said. "Just south of the main city."

"Ah – I'm from L.A. Right by Beverly Hills, actually." Jubilee responded as the door of the elevator opened.

"Really? Bet that was fun."

Jubilee nodded, and pressed two buttons on the elevator – the ground floor for herself, and the first subbasement for Lorna.

"It was," she said. "I'm sorta a crazy mallrat, and there's loads of places to go shopping around there. Also pretty fun to see actors and actresses around town. My friends and I used to just sit at this cool ice-cream parlor, and play 'who can spot a celebrity first'."

"So why'd you leave? Power troubles? That seems like the most common thing around this place."

Jubilee nodded. "I'm sorta a walking fireworks stand – I can shoot these big globs of energy from my hands that blow up. I was breakin' everything in my parents place, and getting worried about blinding someone or something, so here I am. I really like it here – only bad thing is there's only one mall in town, and that's it for like twenty miles," she said with a grin.

The door to the elevator slid open on the ground floor. "Well, this's my stop – gotta meet Professor Xavier. Nice to meet you, Lorna."

"You too… Jubilation," Lorna said, laughing when Jubilee whirled.

"Hey! I know where you live!" Jubilee said shooting her a mock glare as the door slid shut.

Lorna smiled to herself, glad she'd met the feisty young teen. She'd been slow in meeting people at the mansion and getting to know them, mainly her own fault than that of the others of the mansion – it was hard, after spending months in captivity to get back to normal.

Lorna exited the elevator to the cool-metallic halls of the subbasement. She moved past the doors to the hanger – which she hadn't visited since she'd arrived at the mansion – and past the Medlab and exercise rooms, to a smaller door on the left side of the hall.

Thankfully the door was automatic like the one on the Medlab, so she didn't have to set anything down or struggle to open the door. It slid open, revealing the small room which Ororo had shown her on her tour of the mansion.

One wall of the room was taken up by a low countertop, set up to allow people to set their things down, and fold their clothes on. The other wall was a bank of washers and dryers – three top-loading washing machines side-by-side next to three front-loading dryers.

She stopped in the doorway when she saw the room was already occupied – the tall form of Warren stood in front of one of the machines. He was wearing jeans, and a modified T-shirt – something he'd taken to wearing around the mansion when he wasn't outside. He'd made long slits down the back, and it looked like he'd safety-pinned the bottom of the slit to keep the material together. He had his wings sticking out from the slits in the shirt, and they lay tucked down on his back.

"Damnit," Warren to himself, staring exasperatedly at a pile of clothes he'd just pulled out of the washing machine, a number of socks and shirts that appeared to have been white at one time were stained a bluish red, and several other pieces of clothing looked as if they'd faded in color.

"Warren?" Lorna said softly.

His head snapped up from the wet bundle of clothes, and he turned around to face the door. "Oh, hey Lorna – didn't hear you come in."

"Looks like you're having fun," she said, grinning slightly as she walked further into the room, and set down her armful of clothes on the countertop.

He sighed, and shook his head. "I have no idea what I did wrong."

Lorna turned, leaving her clothes, and stepped across the room to stand next to him, looking at the clothes in amusement.

He prodded a pair of now bright pink socks. "I've- never really done my own laundry before… Back home we had a cleaning service that cleaned up the house, and took all our clothes and washed them and then put them back in our closets."

"Well, you put your whites with your colors, and that can make the dyes bleed out and color your whites like this." Lorna said.

He shook his head. "I wish they'd make it more informative – I thought whites were for just when you had white stuff, and colors were when you had a mix of stuff like this. I mean, isn't white a color?"

Lorna clapped a hand over her mouth, stifling a giggle. "N-no, Warren," she said, half-laughing, "colors is for everything but your white clothes. They use different water temperatures and cycles."

He smiled wryly. "I guess so. And what the heck does permanent press mean?"

She smiled. "There are some clothes that say to wash it with that on their tags – they have some sort of chemical that prevents wrinkling, and the permanent press cycle helps it work. I use it sometimes on regular clothes too if they usually come out really wrinkly."

"So what do I do with these now?" He said, gesturing helplessly to the pile of clothes.

"Well, you're gonna have to run the whites through a few more times on their own, until they wash out the color," she said. "I'm only gonna take up two machines, so go ahead and use the other one."

Warren nodded, "Alright," he said, and began to pick through the clothes to find the ones that had once been white.

Lorna moved her own clothes over to the two open washers, and began to load them up. She quickly shoved her undergarments pile into the machine while Warren was pre-occupied, blushing slightly at the thought of Warren seeing those – her parents had been a bit on the conservative side when it came to things like that, and it had stuck with her.

She loaded the rest of her clothing in quickly, and closed the lids to the machines. She glanced over, and her hand darted out to bat Warren's away when he began to push the 'Whites' button.

He glanced up at her in surprise, and pulled her hand back, blushing again. "Sorry, did you put bleach in?"

He shook his head, and she moved over to a set of cabinets below the countertop on the other side of the room, and pulled out a bottle of all-fabric bleach. "Put in like half a lidfull and see how that works first."

She started to hand the bottle to him, and then paused. "Wait – Warren, you _did_ use detergent when you washed, right?"

"Erm… detergent?" He asked, a sheepish look on his face.

Lorna sighed, bit her lip to keep herself from laughing any harder. "You really weren't kidding – you've never done this before, have you?"

He shrugged helplessly. "Nope. Never really even touched a washing machine in my life."

She smiled warmly, and reached out to pat his shoulder. "Alright – you already know the first rule – no colored clothing with your white clothes. Second one is that you need detergent to get all the gunk out of your clothes – otherwise you're just swishing them around in water."

She reached out and grabbed the remaining, colored, clothes he'd left on his washer. "You don't have many, so we can just share my washer."

He nodded gratefully as she slid the clothes into the washer she'd already partly filled. She grabbed a bottle of detergent from the same place she'd gotten the bleach, and poured it into the compartments on top of the machines that released the detergent during the washing cycle. As she did so, she eyed Warren, making sure he'd put the right amount of bleach into his own.

She started up each washer, leaning slightly in front of him to begin the cycle for his whites, and as she pulled back, he touched her hand. "Thanks, Lorna."

She smiled, and turned to lean her back against the washing machine which was beginning to fill with water. "No problem, Warren. Y'should have just asked for help, y'know."

He shrugged. "Well, I guess I was kind of hoping I could figure it out on my own, and…. it's a bit embarrassing to admit you're clueless about cleaning your own clothes."

Lorna nodded in understanding. "I bet. But it's not your fault how you were raised. If there's anything else like this, just ask me and I'll help ya."

He smiled, and turned to orient himself the same way she was. "Alright."

He was quiet for several minutes, and they just sat listening to the water run, before he spoke again. "Um… maybe cooking?" He asked tentatively. "I mean, I can make sandwiches, but most things beyond that… not so much."

Lorna laughed. "Well, I can help I guess, but I'm not that great of a cook myself."

"Well, then… I was thinking of trying this chicken parmesan recipe I found on the internet the other day… You wanna help me cook a double serving tonight and eat with me?"

She glanced down, feeling her cheeks warm, unsure if he was asking her to dinner with him as a friend or something more – she realized she was a bit more flustered when on the receiving end of such a proposal than when she was making one, like she had with Remy. She figured it was best to assume it was as friends – she barely knew Warren, and didn't think he'd be that interested in her – this early at least.

"Sure," she said, smiling shyly. "Dinner."

* * *

"Hey, Professor, there's this bald guy with an eyepatch at the door. He had a badge and I think he's a cop," the shorthaired blonde teenager said through a thick wad of chewing gum as she came around the corner and saw him.

Charles smiled. "Thank you, Tabitha, I was just on my way to greet him." He said, tapping his forehead in explanation.

"Alright, Prof. Um, could I come by later today? I'm having trouble with my chemistry homework." She asked as he started to move past her.

"Of course. I may be a while with our guest, so why don't you come by later this afternoon?"

"Alright, see you after lunch," she said with a wave, moving toward the bank of computers in the computer lab.

Charles turned the corner, and moved toward the front door. He chuckled to himself when he saw that Tabitha had locked Nick out.

He reached out and unlocked the door, turning the knob. "Nick, good to see you," he greeted, when he saw his tall friend framed by the doorway.

Nick was holding a thick manila folder under his arm, was wearing a dark leather trenchcoat and what looked like his usual uniform underneath, and he looked rather haggard, with bags visible under his eyes.

Nick nodded, shaking his hand. "Charles," he greeted. "Your students are rather cautious about strangers," he said, smiling slightly.

"Yes, well, I can't really blame them, considering what happened a few months ago with Stryker."

Nick grimaced slightly. "True, true."

"Let's go to my office," Charles said.

"It looks like you've had a fun week," Charles said as they reached the office and Nick shut the door behind him.

Nick groaned. "You have no idea. Finally got some sleep on the drive here, first in days." He shook his head. "We've been cleaning house. It's a long damn process, plenty of polygraphs and interrogations, and since I couldn't trust many people, I was involved in almost all of them. We're becoming certain that we've caught everyone sympathizing with or connected to the groups we think Creed is involved in – three different people, pretty damn high up, which is the disturbing part."

"It's best that you found them now, rather than later," Charles commented.

Nick sighed. "True. I don't want to think about what we've missed because of them, or what we would have missed if you hadn't clued me in on Creed. As it is we're going to have to go over the past year's intelligence."

"Anyway," Nick said, setting the folder he carried onto his lap. He grabbed a stack of papers from the top, and passed them over to Charles. "This is the account number of a Swiss bank account, opened in the school's name, with you as the account holder," Nick said. "And all of the pertinent information on how to withdraw and all that."

Charles nodded, his eyes running over the papers. "Thank you, Nick."

Nick shrugged. "That was our deal. There's five million in the account now, and at the beginning of the calendar year each year the same will be deposited so long as the team still exists."

Charles' eyebrows flew up. "Five million?" He asked incredulously. "The building and renovations only cost one and a half."

Nick smiled. "I know. But the president gave me access to a large amount of resources to get this team together, and I'd prefer to keep those supporting the team 'well fed' shall we say. Besides, I know you were looking at further expansion but worried about the expenses. So – do what you'd like with the rest."

Charles nodded, his mind speeding as he considered the possibilities. "Thank you, Nick. We've been planning on upgrading security, and this will easily cover the cost."

Nick nodded. "You're welcome. How's the kid doing, by the way? Sharon would have my hide if I didn't bring back an update – he was quite the welcome addition among the agents."

Charles chuckled. "Jimmy is doing fine. He's fitting in quite well. He's become close to one of the girls his age, and she's introduced him to her friends – they seem to be getting along quite well, and they'll be a good influence on him. And he's quite a bright young man."

Nick flashed a grin. "That's great. Happy to hear he's doin' alright."

His fingers drummed out an irregular beat on the folder remaining in his lap. "So, Sharon said we've got some takers for the team?"

"Yes," Charles said lightly. "Perhaps not as many as you'd hoped, but enough. Logan, Rogue, and Remy have all agreed, on the condition that they get to check it out and then make their final decision. Most of the others… I sensed were uncomfortable with the grey areas of it, and they declined."

"Three's better than none," Nick replied, "especially since they're the ones I'd expected would accept. If they have time, I can take them with me today and let them see what they'd be getting into."

"I'd told them you'd be dropping by today, and I think they've cleared their schedules," Charles said with a nod. "And while we're still on the subject of those who wish to join, there was one other who expressed his wishes, but… I told him he should speak with you first as it might not be exactly approved of I would think for him to join given his past. I told him that you'd make the final decision."

Fury's brow furrowed slightly. "Sure. I'll hear him out – I'm sure we can overlook whatever it is so long as you trust him."

"Alright," Charles said, moving his wheelchair out from behind the desk and toward the door, which he then opened, revealing the blue-skinned, three-fingered, pointy-eared man he'd summoned with his telepathy.

"I'll leave you two to talk," Xavier said with a slight smile.

"_Guten Tag_," Kurt greeted quietly as the door closed, nodding at him.

Fury's eyebrow rose in surprise at Kurt. "You – you're the mutant at the White House. The teleporter."

Kurt nodded. "Yes, I am. That ist partly vhy I have come to you to join this team. I vish to atone for those sins I committed against the government und the President."

"I was under the impression Stryker was controlling you, Mr. Wagner." Fury said slowly, his surprise fading.

Kurt nodded. "_Ja_, you are correct. But it vas my body that did it. Und I vant to save other mutants from people like Stryker and people like Creed and his Purifiers."

Fury nodded slowly. "You're a teleporter." He stated.

"_Ja_."

"I have a teleporter who can transport long distances, but her powers aren't fine-tuned for short distance like yours. She's primarily our quick getaway. Yours is much more accurate, and close range, which would put you in the missions themselves. I recall your file we took from Stryker saying you were strongly religious - are you okay with that: combat and everything? People might even die."

Kurt lowered his gaze, and then nodded. "_Ja_. Even the Lord ensured his people were armed to defend themselves. Sometimes violence must be used to prevent far greater atrocities from occurring."

Nick rubbed his hand across his stubble. "Alright, we'll give you a trial run. Charles says he trusts you, so I trust you. If things go alright, you're officially part of the team. Sound good?"

"Indeed," Kurt said softly. "That sounds very good."

"Okay then," Nick said, extending his hand to shake Kurt's three-fingered one. "I'm visiting to take the others to check out the operation, see the base they'll operate from, that sort of thing. You can come along with us if you'd like to get a better idea of the team."

Kurt smiled, the white of his teeth clashing noticeably against his blue, scarred skin. "I vould."

Kurt then cocked his head. "The Professor ist telling me the others are on their vay here if you want to talk to them now."

Fury chuckled. "Alright, should've expected Charles would know when we were done here. Let's go meet them."

* * *

"You like it, _petite_?" Remy asked with a grin, as Sarah rapidly devoured the chocolate-chip pancakes he'd made for her.

"Mh-hmm," Sarah mumbled through a mouthful.

Remy took a stab into his omelet, and grabbed a bite of toast. "So what y'doin today, _Chére_?"

Rogue shrugged, eating her own breakfast. "Not much. Ah've got some homework Ah need to get done by Monday, so Ah'll do some work on that. Other'n that, nothin'."

He glanced over to Sarah, and almost laughed at the rim of chocolate that had developed around her lips. "What 'bout you _petite_, you got much homework?"

She shook her head, and grabbed her milk to wash down a mouthful of pancake. "Just some English and History."

"You need any help?"

Sarah nodded. "Yeah, if you could look over my answers when I'm done."

"Alrigh' _petite_. So, since none of us got much to do t'day, why don' we go horse-ridin' later dis afternoon? We could invite Dani 'long too."

Sarah's eyes lit up. "Yeah, let's go riding!"

"Let's invite Lorna too," Rogue murmured, and Remy nodded, remembering she'd wanted to include her in things around the Mansion to help her settle in.

"Alright. Maybe 'round four or so? Dat'd give us 'till bout eight when de sun sets. Might hafta teach Lorna, not sure if she's ever ridden. I'll ask her if I run into her later if she wants t'go." Remy said.

He glanced over at the entrance as Jimmy, Sally, and a sleepy-looking Rahne filed into the kitchen.

"Help y'self to some pancakes," he called out to them, "they're choc'late chip. Jus' leave one for Sarah."

That announcement quickly woke Rahne up the rest of the way, and the three of them piled pancakes onto plates, and brought them over to a table nearby Rogue, Sarah, and Remy – far enough away that none of them could feel the effects of Jimmy's powers – and began to eat.

Remy noticed Sarah shooting furtive glances over to the group, and grinned, knowing she wanted to join them, but also didn't want to abandon him and Rogue. He was grateful she'd found good friends like the three youngsters digging into his pancakes – she needed it with everything that had happened to her during her life before Remy had found her.

He started to open his mouth, when Xavier's voice in his mind caused him to freeze, and he saw Rogue stiffen slightly as well.

'_Remy, Rogue, Logan: Colonel Fury is here, and he'd like to talk to you about joining his team. I think he's planning to take you off the mansion grounds to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters to show you what he has in mind, so I hope you have your morning clear.'_

'_I'll be there soon, just got to finish breakfast,_' Remy sent back using his rudimentary empathy.

"_Petite_, why don' you grab dat last pancake, and go eat wit' y'friends. Rogue an' I got to go see de Professor, an' we might be gone de rest of de mornin'."

She looked up at him, her eyes suddenly wide and vulnerable. "Where are you goin'? When'll you get back?"

"De professor wants us to talk to a government man, an' we'll be off at his place. It's somethin' dat might help us catch de people behind de Tunnels. An' we shouldn' be long, should be back by early afternoon. I'll make sure we're back in time t'go ridin, _hein_?"

Sarah pouted slightly, but nodded. "Alright. Tell me about it when y'get back?" She asked.

He leaned across the table and kissed her forehead. "Sure thing, _petite_. If y'see Dani an' Lorna, let 'em know dey're invited on de ride. Now behave y'self while we're gone."

He stood up, and grabbed a napkin from the countertop near the table, and handed it to her. "An' make sure y'wipe off your face when you're done eatin' – you got a chocolate moustache."

Sarah rolled her eyes, giggling, and took the napkin before she stood up to walk to the countertop and grab the last pancake. She waved to Remy and Rogue as they finished their last bites of breakfast and stood up to go to meet Fury.

Remy shot one last glance as he walked out the door, smiling when he saw her sit down and begin to talk animatedly to her three friends, Jimmy's powers having removed the bony growths on her face.

* * *

Remy, Rogue, and Logan were waiting outside the door to the office already when Nick opened it. "Ah, my new recruits," Nick said with an easy smile. "Glad you guys could take the time to meet me.

He moved forward to shake each of their hands. "Well, I don't want to waste your time, so why don't we head out? I want to show you what you'll be getting into."

Logan nodded. "Alrigh'. Hope Charles told you we're just checkin' it out right now before we make our final decision."

Nick smiled, and gestured for them to follow him as he walked toward the front door. "Of course. I'm glad you're considering, because frankly it's hard as hell to find mutants that can work with my team concept."

"You said black-ops, right?" Remy asked. "I don' want anyone from my past findin' out I'm still alive."

Nick nodded. "Absolutely. Code-names only. And this is a Special Access Program. More secret than Top Secret. Only a few of us in S.H.I.E.L.D. will know about the team itself, and only myself and two others know your real names and histories. And if anything _does_ come up, we take care of our own. You don't have anything to worry about there."

Nick opened the door to the back of the large black SUV, and let them pile in before he moved to the front passenger door and climbed in next to the young blonde-haired man who was driving. He nodded, and the man started up the vehicle, and pulled out toward the street.

The four of them were quiet on the drive, following Nick's example. They realized that he did not want to speak about the team in front of the driver, who was likely well below the level of classification needed to know about the team. Likely all he knew was that the Director was transporting three people, and one blue-skinned mutant somewhere, and that was all he needed to know.

Before long they reached a private airfield in the countryside outside of the city, and their SUV pulled to a halt next to a sleek black attack helicopter resting on the tarmac.

Fury led them toward the side door, and slid it open. He grabbed several headsets and passed them out to them. "You'll need these – it's loud as hell once the rotors start up. There's two channels on these – Channel 1 is the general broadcast and goes to the pilot. Channel 2, only these sets have access to so the pilot can't hear anything on them. If you want to talk about anything about the project with each other or with me, that's what you use."

Once they'd nodded in understanding, and he'd moved so they could climb in, he ran around to the co-pilot's seat, and whirled his hand above his head, and the pilot instantly started up the engine and began spooling up the rotor.

"Welcome aboard, folks," the pilot's voice came over the headsets once they'd put them on. "Buckle in, and we're outta here."

Logan slid the crash restraint on almost unconsciously, and then paused as he buckled in the last bit, realizing he'd known how to do it without remembering having ever done it. He shook his head – obviously he'd spent plenty of time on military helicopters in his past, enough for his subconscious to buckle him in without thinking about it.

Logan sighed at yet another hint of his past, and tried to push it out of mind as he leaned over to help Kurt, who was fumbling with it – his three-fingered hands likely part of the cause.

Remy, having helped Rogue with hers, slid into his, and then felt a jolt as the helicopter left the ground, quickly picking up speed. As it banked to turn east, Remy looked down and grinned at Rogue who found herself pressed more closely against him because of the maneuver. He reached down and slid his hand into hers, and she smiled back, and then leaned up to clumsily kiss his nose, their headsets thunking together as she did so.

The ride, while longer than the car ride, was also rather short, and soon enough they found themselves at a rather high altitude, well above a cloudbank. The last they'd seen of the ground was the edge of New York City, and they'd flown at least ten minutes past that.

"Where we headed?" Remy asked over the com.

Nick craned his head back, and grinned. "You'll see. Any minute now."

And as he gestured out the front windscreen of the helicopter, they gained a slight amount of altitude, and broke through the final bank of clouds into wide, open blue sky underlain with rolling white clouds that looked like someone's model of an ocean in the sky.

"_Mein Gott_," Nightcrawler breathed over the comm, and Remy heard a gasp from Rogue.

"Damn," Remy said, deciding to add his own input.

They weren't reacting to the view, which was breathtaking in its own right. Rather, they were reacting to the enormous airship that hung suspended in the sky above the cloudbank.

It was a massive vehicle, its flat black top deck and control tower rising above it causing it to look much like the deck of an aircraft carrier. And from its size, and a number of helicopters and sleek fighter jets lining either side of two lined runways, Remy realized that was exactly what it was: an aircraft carrier, equal in size to at least one of the smaller ones used by the US Navy, hanging thousands of feet in the air above the state of New York.

It wasn't exactly like a water-borne carrier, of course – beneath the massive flat deck, was a bulbous, yet streamlined structure in place of a hull, and along the bottom of that protruded several large turbines that spun visibly, and appeared to be providing thrust as well as directional control: one rotated slightly as he watched.

And yet like an aircraft carrier, at least more recent ones, Remy could see several weapons emplacements along the outer edge of the deck, and a visible SAM launcher rotating on the control tower. Below the decking he saw other less conspicuous gun ports lining the 'hull' of the vessel.

Remy thought he heard Nick chuckle over the intercom at their reactions. "Alright, hang on, we're headed in. Control said there's a few spots of choppy air right now, so it'll be a little bumpy landing." Nick said over the intercom.

True that prediction, as they neared the massive ship, the helicopter began to bounce and sway, but their pilot seemed to expertly correct for each – likely spurred on to fly it perfectly by the fact that his boss was in the seat next to him.

As they neared, the massive carrier seemed to grow in size, and they realized its true extent when they saw the tiny figures of humans on the flight deck guiding them in.

After negotiating his way through one more bumpy air current, the pilot slowed their approach, and they slowly came to a hover above the deck and lowered down until the landing gear hit the tarmac.

"Alright, takes a while for the rotor to stop turning, so when you get out, just keep your head down until you get away from the helicopter." Fury said, before removing his headset, placing it next to him on the seat, and opening the door.

He ducked down as he exited, and then slid their door open, allowing them out. They moved – their legs slightly unsteady from the flight – away from the helicopter and toward a pretty blonde-haired woman dressed in a uniform that looked almost identical to Fury's, sans the trenchcoat, who stood waiting for them on the deck.

"Good flight?" She shouted over the noise of the nearby helicopter and the gusting wind that blew across the deck.

Fury nodded, and gestured for them all to walk toward an recessed set of stairs that led down below the deck. Inside, the halls were narrow, much like that of a regular aircraft carrier or any other ship. The walls were painted white, and bare pipes and conduits ran along the ceiling overhead.

They stopped briefly at a guard desk, and had their photos taken, the pictures printed off onto visitor badges, which they each clipped to their shirts.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Special Agent Sharon Carter," Fury began as they reached a hallway past the desk, "She's my best agent, and one of those two people I mentioned that will know the full details of the operation."

"Sharon, I'm sure you recognize these three from the files. And this is Kurt Wagner."

Sharon smiled. "It's nice to meet you all in person. Welcome to the _USS Hermes_," she said, gesturing at the ship around her. "What do you think of her?"

"Pretty damn impressed. Shit, what is this thing?" Logan asked.

Sharon smiled, and Nick gestured for them to follow him as they walked down the corridor and down several flights of stairs to another level. "This is what we like to call a 'Helicarrier'," Sharon said, "made exclusively for S.H.I.E.L.D.. Air Force is trying to get some of their own but it'll take them a while because we have more resources than they do – we have six Helicarriers right now with six more in the works, expected to be done in the next year or so. They're mobile bases we can stage from, and we have one in each major region of the country."

"The _Hermes _stays around the New York area most of the time," Sharon continued, "the next closest to us is _USS Icarus_, which is usually stationed around Norfolk and Richmond. We have one to the north of St. Louis, another near Cheyenne, one by Dallas, and another near L.A. – that's the one we staged from for the Alcatraz operation."

"How does dis thing say in de air?" Remy asked.

Fury chuckled. "That was my exact thought years back when the plans came to my desk. First off, this whole ship is made of some sort of carbon-fiber alloy material, which I guess gives the same strength as regular metal but with a lot less weight. Weighs maybe half what a structure of metal this size would be," he said, patting the painted wall as he walked.

"We use a gas mixture, helium and hydrogen in two big air bladders that run down either side of the core of the ship, to keep her afloat. The turbines on the outside can provide a bit of lift, and they're really good for maneuvering. Besides those, we let up on heating the gas if we want to start descending, and heat it more if we want to climb higher. Entire place is powered by an arc-reactor courtesy of Stark Industries."

"Um, how high are we?" Rogue asked.

"Only 6500 feet right now. We can climb quite a bit higher, though if we need to. Just easier for the helicopters to get here if we're down this low."

Rogue's brow furrowed. "How is it that no one can see yah when it's not cloudy?"

"Active camouflage all along the bottom. We've all these little cameras all across the top that take video of the sky above us, and the computer plays that image along the bottom. Not perfect if you were a few hundred feet below us – you'd notice distortions – but at our height no one on the ground can tell the difference. Airlines can see us if they get close, but they're redirected around us."

"This's…. pretty cool," Remy said, at loss for a decent word to describe the fact that he was in a several hundred ton structure suspended over a mile in the air.

"Figured you'd all like it," Fury said, opening a door. He stepped back and let them file into a large conference room. It was at least twice the size of their 'War Room' at the mansion, with a long oak table taking up the center of the room, and plush leather rolling chairs surrounding it. It was apparently situated on the side of the large Helicarrier, and one side of the room was a wall of thick windows, that appeared to be made of a similar glass-plastic mix of layers used in cockpit windows on airliners.

"Have a seat, we have a lot to discuss, and I'm sure you have plenty of questions for me." Fury said, and sat down at one end of the table, Sharon moving to sit next to him.

He grabbed several papers from the folder at his side, and passed them out to them. "First off, you need to sign these. They're basic nondisclosure agreements, saying that you'll not reveal anything you learn here today to anyone if you decide not to join the team. Just a legal 'cover our asses' paper."

Remy grabbed it, skimming it quickly with his eyes, and then signed it, handing the pen to Rogue, who'd sat down next to him.

Remy folded his hands as Kurt and Logan signed their papers and passed them back to Fury. "So, tell us a bit more 'bout dese positions."

Fury smiled, and set the folder he'd been carrying the entire time down on the table in front of him. "Alright. As we've established, this is a black ops team. We don't exist officially. If anyone gets captured, we publically deny knowledge of you. Now, that doesn't mean we abandon you, we just can't acknowledge you exist to anyone. You get captured somehow, and we'll get you out of there covertly. We don't leave our men behind."

"We need a group of super-powered humans, like yourselves, to keep up with the dangers to the nation that others, like Magneto and even non-mutant terrorists, pose. You'll basically be the secret Avengers, doing things that they cannot. Mostly it will be missions similar to your raid on the Purifiers two weeks back, sometimes not in country – S.H.I.E.L.D. has some strong international ties aside from being an integral part of this country. Think sort of a mutant Rainbow Six, if you're a fan of Clancy," Nick said, grinning slightly.

Remy found his hands moving out of habit toward his deck of cards to shuffle them like he usually did when he was in a situation like this, it helped him think, but he forced his hands to still, and gave himself the concession of reaching out to grab Rogue's hand under the table.

"Assassinations?" Remy asked.

Fury shook his head. "No. Very rarely you might act as backup to cover during one, but one of the mutants already on the team is already designated for the act itself. We try to avoid those if we can though. You might have to kill people in the course of your missions, though, but no blatant preplanned assassinations."

Remy shrugged. "Well den, not much I haven' done already in de past," he said.

Rogue bit her lip. "What else can yah tell us 'bout it?"

"You'll be on call on weekends, and stand-down during weekdays except during the summer: I understand you've got lives and are either attending school or reaching. In the summer you'll be on call all week – and I'll want you all to have at least one training exercise in the next few weeks before you start going on real missions."

"You can expect a mission every few weeks on average, and if we call you during the week, it's just whoever can show up at the time. We'll provide transport from the airfield we just left from, you just have to get there yourselves. If we need you quickly we'll send our own transports to get you there."

"Sharon here will be your official liaison," Nick said, nodding toward Sharon, "she'll be the one that primarily contacts you and gives you the mission briefings, simply because I'm needed in many places."

"Your official titles will be 'Special Agent' with S.H.I.E.L.D., and if you're still all in after our tour of the place, we'll get you Top Secret clearance and Special Access clearance. We'll set you up with a secure computer station at the mansion in the next few weeks so you can access the S.H.I.E.L.D. database from there for Xavier's missions or your own planning for S.H.I.E.L.D. ops."

"Pay and benefits?" Logan asked, speaking up.

"Well, you'd start out as GS-12s – that's about $60,000 a year fulltime. Of course, you're only working part time, so to be fair to others we'll give you half – even though you're not working half. So around 30,000 a year. Benefits – full benefits and retirement package. Best of any government agency. I'll give you a brochure before you sign any contracts so you can look it over yourself. Full insurance coverage with disability, dental, vision, the works. I'm on the same plan, and I'm damn happy with it."

Rogue sucked in a breath at the thought of making 30,000 a year. She'd had a total of one job at a fast-food joint in Meridian before her powers had emerged, and had made minimum wage. This was a lot more than that, just for keeping weekends open for missions that might happen every few weeks.

She felt Remy's fingers tap across the top of her hand, and she glanced over to see him deep in thought. "That's… pretty good, right?" She asked.

Remy nodded at the same time as Fury. "Pretty good," Remy agreed. "I like it."

Even Logan, who Rogue knew was inherently suspicious of government agencies after what had been done to him, nodded in agreement. "Me too."

Fury settled back into his chair, visibly relieved at their reaction, having been worried before about their skepticism. He couldn't blame them, though, given what they'd experienced at the hands of Stryker and his group.

"Okay, good," he said, and spread out several folders that had been inside the larger one, in front of himself and Sharon. "Now I've got some questions for you. I need to know your full capabilities. Intelligence from various sources on your abilities is all well and good, but I'd like to hear it from the horse's mouth as it were."

"Logan, you're probably the only one I think we know most everything about. After Stryker went rogue, we recovered a lot of his older files from the original Weapon X that worked on you, and they had pretty detailed files: extremely rapid healing, full adamantium skeleton including claws, enhanced senses and agility. That sound about right?"

Logan nodded, a grimace on his face. "That's right. Bigger injuries take me longer to recover from, but not much more than an hour if it's real bad."

Fury pulled a pen from his trenchcoat pocket and scribbled a note in one of the folders that held a picture of Logan stapled to one side. Then he grabbed the next one, and flipped it open. "Kurt. Teleportation, extreme range of flexibility, you used to be in the circus, prehensile tail. Sound right? What are the limits of your teleporting?"

"_Ja_, that is right. I do not think I haff found my limits, but I haff gotten tired if I teleport more than a few miles. It is even worse if I haff to teleport others with myself." Kurt said, his tail swaying behind him in the seat.

Fury made another note, and then turned to Remy, whose file was much thicker than the others, even Logan's. "And the infamous Mr. LeBeau, the White Devil of Louisiana," Nick said with a warm smile. "I hope you know you've been the bane of our Property Crimes department for years now."

Remy chuckled. "I guess I'll hafta take dat as a compliment."

Nick nodded. "Alright, we'll skip over the martial arts which you seem to be quite proficient at – so you've got some sort of healing factor, much slower than Logan's. Your main ability is some sort of kinetic explosive ability – you charge things up and they explode after a certain delay. I think we've got a good idea of your power – that theater explosion that killed two dozen was what put us on to you being a mutant. Horrible way to find out you're a mutant," he said sympathetically.

Rogue's gaze snapped to Remy, and she saw him nod with a strained expression on his face, his eyes avoiding hers. She'd known he'd blown up a theater – he'd told her as much – but not that people had died.

'_How much guilt does he have hidden away_?' she wondered sadly, and squeezed his hand tightly to give him as much support as she could. She could relate to the emergence of his powers in a way, although the person harmed had not died in her case, he was still deep in a coma.

Remy's eyes moved over to meet hers, and a hesitant smile came on his face at the gesture. "It is," Remy agreed with Fury with a low voice. "But I've come a long way from den and have pretty full control. Den I blew up de floor, which took out de supports for de roof. Back at de Purifiers I did de same, but if I really wanted to, I could've charged up de entire Purifier base. Woulda left me bone tired, but coulda been done. Probably taken out everythin' within a mile of it."

Fury glanced up from the folder in surprise. "That's… impressive. It seems our profilers underestimated you."

Remy gave him a wan smile. "Most usually do. Their mistake."

Nick laughed. "I'm sure. I think our Property Crimes Division can attest to that firsthand. They've been trying to pin something to you for years now." He glanced back down at the file. "And you're banned from New Orleans on threat of death from the Assassin's Guild? Something about the death of the son of the head of the Guild and some spat with his daughter?"

Remy grimaced, and nodded. "_Oui_. Rather not get into dat one. Jus' know if you get a job for N'awlins, I'll be sittin' it out. Nearly got killed a month back by de other son when someone put a bounty on my head, so it's pretty clear it is still fresh for dem."

Fury nodded. "Fair enough. No New Orleans missions. Anything I missed?"

"Immunity to telepathy," Remy said, tapping his forehead. "My head makes sorta a static to telepaths. I c'n hear an' pick up broadcasted messages, but dey can' influence my mind."

"Interesting…" Fury said, making a note of that.

He then closed his file and picked up the final one. "Last but not least, Rogue. You're one of the most unique mutants I've heard of. Skin that can absorb memories and mutant powers during skin-to-skin contact, adverse effect on the person being absorbed. Your power could have so many applications."

Rogue nodded, squeezing Remy's hand again. "Ah- Ah hope th'Professor told you Ah'm not very comfortable usin' it. If Ah join, yah've gotta understand that. It depends on how mah mind is at the time, an' if Ah think Ah can handle another person right then. If Ah can't, or its someone Ah really don' want rattlin' around up there, Ah won' do it."

"I understand completely. You won't be forced to do anything with your power that you don't want to do."

He glanced down at the folder then, tapping the paper with his pen. "That about it? Nothing we missed or underestimated?"

"Actually, yeah, there is – somethin' Ah think'll be more reliable for _you_ than mah other powers. A few weeks ago, Ah absorbed a young woman. She was dyin' already, an' she touched me an' Ah absorbed her completely. She was a mutant, with a suppression collar, an', at least so far, Ah've had her powers since then."

"Permanent absorption?" Nick asked, surprised.

Rogue nodded. "Th'Professor thinks so."

"Alright. What are they?"

"Ah can fly – still gettin' a handle on that one. Ah'm pretty close t'invincible – Ah got shot after Ah absorbed her, an' it hurt like hell, but the bullets just flattened on my skin and left some ugly bruises. An' some sorta enhanced strength."

"Well, that's actually perfect. We had basically a 'strongman' on the team, but his family was recently killed, and he's been on leave since. If I can also bring cases to you and let you decide on getting information from them using your powers, I think this'll work quite well," Nick said.

He straightened the papers, and closed his folders. "I think that's all that I needed. Let's show you around, let you meet the others, and then we'll get to contracts and all that. Ms. Carter will show you around – I need to attend to something. I'll be back here when you're done," he said, pulling out a vibrating cell-phone.

He stood, and walked toward the door, bringing the phone up to his ear. He answered it, his voice muffled in the hall but clear enough to hear him say, "Mister President…. Yes, that's what I wanted to discuss…"

Sharon smiled apologetically. "Sorry, he was going to give you the tour himself, but he's been trying to get a hold of the President since this morning."

Logan shook his head. "No problem. 'Sides, you're our liaison, might as well get t'know you."

Sharon stood. "True." She glanced at her watch. "I think we should be able to catch one or two of the team in the mess hall if we leave now. This way."

She led them down the corridor to the right, and then through a maze of side-corridors. She looked back at them with amusement. "Don't worry about getting lost your first few times up here – it takes a while to get the hang of the hallways. If you can find one of the big intersections like that one," she said pointing down the hall to where one main corridor crossed another, "they usually have a map posted that you can use."

Sharon pointed down another hall. "Down in that direction, the corridors end where they come up against the starboard air bladder compartment. To get onto the port side of the ship you need to either go down to one of the bottom levels and cross under it, or around to the fore or aft and go around it."

"This is the starboard mess hall," she said as she stopped in front of an open doorway that led to a large mess hall filled with tables which were mostly occupied by S.H.I.E.L.D. workers, smells of the lunch being served wafting through the air toward them. Her eyes scanned the crowd for several moments, before shaking her head. "Not here – we'll have to find them as we go."

"So what's your story?" Rogue asked Sharon as they continue walking. "How'd yah get into S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"Well, I grew up in a big military family. My great-grandfather and father were both in the Army, and my father was a Green Beret. I think he was hoping for a son to continue the tradition, but all he got was me, so he encouraged me as I grew up to consider serving like he and his father and his father before him did."

"He was a little disappointed I didn't go straight military, but when I went into intelligence, he was happy. I joined the CIA first," she continued, "and worked there for several years. Then Nick found me, and he recruited me to S.H.I.E.L.D., and I've been working here since."

"Ever done somethin' like this before? Takin' lead of a team of super-powered people?" Logan asked.

Sharon smiled, and nodded. "Yes, in fact. I helped Nick start the Avenger Initiative, and I've worked with them until this team started. I'm pretty used to all this stuff."

"It's nice to be around people that aren't scared'a us for bein' mutants." Logan said.

Sharon nodded. "I'm sure. I think you'll find that you have a lot more support than you might think. Unfortunately we can't take an official stand as a government agency, but I'd say that well over three-quarters of S.H.I.E.L.D. employees are mutant-rights supporters when we go to the polls and vote. You probably have a lot more support in the country than you think, too – unfortunately the most vocal out there are the mutant hate groups."

Logan shrugged. "I guess that's usually the case, the nutjobs are usually the ones screaming the loudest."

Sharon spotted someone ahead of them, and called out to her. "Clarice! Wait up, I've got some people for you to meet."

The person ahead of them stopped, and turned. She looked mostly like an average female in her late twenties, her face long and delicate, with high cheekbones. Her ears were longer than most, and came to a point at the top, giving her an elfin look. It was her other features, though, that gave her away as a mutant. Her hair was almost the same exact shade of pink as Sarah's. Her skin was a vivid mix of pink and magenta – pink for the most part, with dark magenta marks on her face, near her eyes, which were completely pupil-less, and tinted only a whitish green color.

"Clarice, these are Nick's recruits," Sharon said, and introduced each of them in turn.

Clarice smiled shyly. "Nice t'meet you. I'm Blink in the field, but you can just call me Clarice. I'm pretty much the teleporter: I'll be your transportation in and out of missions, but I don't really get involved in the actual action."

Sharon gestured to Kurt. "Kurt here is a teleporter as well, he'll be going in with the team."

Clarice grinned, and reached out to shake Kurt's hand. "Nice to meet someone else that can teleport."

Kurt nodded. "_Ja_. I'm more close range than you I guess." He said, and then vanished in a puff of dark purplish smoke, reappearing several feet away.

Clarice's eyes widened. "That's – yeah, I can take big groups of people, and go a long distance, but it takes a _lot_ of concentration to do something like that," she said, nodding toward the dissipating cloud he'd left behind.

She smiled at them apologetically, and looked to Sharon. "I've gotta get going – Dom wants me to turn in these parts requisition forms. It was good to meet you guys."

Sharon touched her arm as she turned to go. "Actually, we're looking for them – where are they?"

"Oh – down in the Vehicle Bay. Dom's got some crazy idea for modifying the X-49, and she's convinced Jamie on it. Same old," Clarice said, and then waved to the four of them, shooting a wink to Kurt, who Rogue thought almost appeared to be blushing.

Sharon turned back to the group. "Alright, the Vehicle Bay she's talking about is off this way," she said, and started leading them down a side corridor. "We actually have several across the ship, but this is the one that you guys will be based out of. We keep the special-ops helicopters and VTOLs in this one – all we have to do is slide them out on the elevator up to the top deck and they're ready to fly."

* * *

The Vehicle Bay was situated on the top two floors, closest to the flight deck of the Helicarrier. The entrance was on the second level, and as they walked in, the cavernous space took up the area of two different floors. Inside, the Bay itself was at least the size of a football field, and filled with a number of sleek, rather advanced looking helicopters, VTOL carriers like the ones they'd seen flying toward Alcatraz as they left, and several F-22 Raptors.

Sharon led them through the rows of aircraft, to near the edge of the room where large hangar doors were shut against the outside air, the windows showing a view of the clouds they hovered above.

A large, smooth-lined helicopter sat on the hangar floor – it looked more like an aerodynamic Corvette or Dodge Viper automobile than a typical helicopter. It was one of the most peculiar helicopters Remy had ever seen – its tail rotor was not oriented in line with the midline bisector of the body, but rather at a right angle to it; and above the body of the helicopter, it had not one, but two rotors, one above the other. The muzzles of two machine guns were slung under the cockpit, and two stubby wings jutted out of either side of the passenger compartment, each holding two missiles.

Near the helicopter, someone had set up a large folding table and spread blueprints across it in front of two people who stood over them having a quiet discussion.

The man, who was facing their direction, was tall even leaning down over the table, with dark hair and cobalt blue eyes. His features were pleasing enough to be called handsome, in a rugged sort of way, and he was somewhere in his early thirties. He was dressed in a black pair of pants, and his shirt was green, with a yellow design on the front consisting of six circles – three on either side of his chest – connected together with lines.

The woman on the other side of the table from him was shorter and had chin-length black hair brushed back away from her face. The skin of her neck visible to them appeared to be chalk-white in color. She was wearing shin-high combat boots, and was dressed in a black leather form-fitting bodysuit that left very little to the imagination. A pair of matching black fingerless gloves adorned her hands, and a belt hung around her waist, holding two holstered Walther P99 semi-automatic pistols.

"..see, I think if we just open her up here and run the wiring through with all of these wires, we can pull it off. It's not like we're rewiring the entire chopper or anything, just adding a little more to get a better night-vision system in," she said, as they came within earshot.

The man nodded his head. "No, you're right. I think I that'll work. We just need those parts from Clarice."

Sharon cleared her throat, and they both glanced up at her, which revealed that the woman's eyes were a light blue, and that her skin was indeed chalk white, with the exception of a large oval of pure black skin around her left eye that ran from her forehead above her eyebrow, down along the side of her nose, and down to her cheekbone. She didn't appear to be much older than Remy, and at least a few years younger than the man she'd been talking to.

"Jamie, Domino, I'd like you to meet Nick's recruits – they'll be your new teammates." She gestured to them. "This is Kurt, Rogue, Gambit, and-"

"Logan!" The young woman Sharon had referred to as Domino exclaimed, her face lighting up in a surprised smile. She moved forward, and pulled Logan into a hug.

"Neena?" Logan asked, staring down at the young woman in confusion.

She nodded into his chest, and then pulled back, leaning her head back to look at his face. "I go by 'Domino' now. God, how've you been?"

He shook his head, and a smile appeared on his face, the cautious and suspicious front he'd had during the entire tour and meeting disappearing. "Good. How 'bout you? It's been, what, ten years?"

"Getting by. And nope, it's been fourteen – I'm twenty-four now." She said.

Rogue forced down a tendril of jealousy at Logan – his expression toward Domino was the almost parental, loving one he had around her, but she knew it was foolish to think she'd been the only one in Logan's life like that, and felt a little silly at the feeling that had just come to her.

Logan placed his hands on her shoulders, and looked her up and down. "You, um…. grew up…"

Domino laughed softly, "Yes, Logan, that's usually what ten year olds do. I'll take it as a compliment I guess."

Logan shook his head again. "Wow – it's great to see you again. What – how'd you get into… all this?" He asked, gesturing down at the S.H.I.E.L.D. badge attached to her belt next to her handgun, and then the Helicarrier around them.

She shrugged slightly. "Long story. John died, 'bout a year after you left, and I got thrown into the system, and got sick of being shuttled to foster parent after foster parent that couldn't deal with me. Figured I'd use my powers for somethin' useful and apprenticed with a bounty hunter when I was fifteen. Then I went out on my own as a contract mercenary. Nick's contracted me a few times, and we got along pretty well so he offered me a job – pays a hell of a lot better, more job security, so I jumped at the chance."

"Sorry I wasn't there for ya. Y'should've told me," Logan began, but she shook her head.

"Logan, you weren't exactly in the best shape to take care of a kid back then – I couldn't do that to you. And by the time I started bounty huntin' and tried to look you up, you'd dropped off the map."

Logan grimaced, "Yeah, guess I wasn't, I –" He glanced around, realizing Rogue, Remy, Kurt, and the others were watching the two of them with amused expressions. "Let's… catch up later."

A slight pink dusted Domino's pale white cheeks when she noticed as well. "Alright, later."

Logan shot the others a sheepish smile. "Guys, this is Neena – used to be friends with her stepdad way back, and I stayed with them for a few months."

"It's nice to meet you," Domino said warmly, moving away from Logan and shaking their hands.

Remy shook hers last, shooting her a small grin. "Now, you wouldn' happen t'be _the_ Domino – de _femme_ who took out de head of de L.A. _Yakuza_ from a mile away wit' a single shot before de three people from de Assassin's Guild had even set up for their shots, would you?"

Domino's face broke into a broad grin. "Yep, that would be me. Certainly didn't put me in the Guild's good books."

"_Non_, it didn't. But de Thieves Guild sure loved rubbin' it in their faces." Remy shook his head. "That's a hell of a shot."

"Well, that's my gig – I'm lucky. Some mumbo-jumbo about subconscious telekenetics, when I asked the scientists here, but basically if I act toward something, I can influence its probability the way I want it. That's why I got into the business," she said, tapping the handguns at her belt.

Jamie turned his head from the conversation as another person walked up toward them, having emerged from the nearby helicopter wearing a greasy military mechanic's coveralls.

"Hydraulics line looks fine, patched up the fuel line from that bullet we took," he said to Jamie.

Rogue did a double take when she realized he looked exactly the same as Jamie. "Yah twins?"

Jamie looked back to the group, and then laughed. "No, that's me." He snapped his fingers twice, and two more duplicates of himself appeared on either side of them. "We're all me," they said together, grinning.

Domino rolled her eyes, "Oh quit showing off, Jamie," she said, slapping him on the arm, which had the unintended effect of knocking out another duplicate.

He did the mature thing, and stuck out his tongue at her, before reaching out and absorbing the duplicates back into himself, including the one who'd come from the helicopter.

"Vhere do the, um, clothes go?" Kurt asked.

Jamie shrugged. "No clue. Just works out somehow. Apparently nobody has a clue how my powers work – goes completely against conservation of mass and all that junk."

He spread his hands. "So, whaddaya think – Fury said you all were a 'maybe' before – you wanna join the team?"

Logan nodded first, glancing to Domino. "Wasn't entirely sure before, but yeah, I'm in."

Remy and Rogue nodded together, and Kurt finally nodded as well.

"Good to hear," Nick's voice boomed from behind them. "Let's get your contracts and things together, and then we're done." He said, obviously off of his phone call to the President.

* * *

Several minutes later, after Domino pried a promise from Logan of talking later over several beers, the four new teammates found themselves back in the conference room, their contracts in front of them.

Remy's eyes were flicking over page after page, as the others slowly struggled through the dense legalese inherent in a government contract, his training and memory letting him digest it much quicker than they could.

He finally sighed, and grabbed the pen Fury had given them, and scribbled out his signature in the several dozen places in the document that asked for it, and then slid the closed contract back to Fury.

Rogue glanced up, a rather hopeless look in her eyes at trying to ensure she knew what she was signing. "Remy?"

He glanced over at Fury. "All dese contracts de same?"

Fury nodded. "All except the last page of Rogue's – I put in a provision that lets her ignore orders to use her absorbing powers if she feels it will be a hazard to herself."

Remy leaned over and took it from her unresisting hands, and flipped her conntract to the last page, and read it. Then he smiled, and nodded to her. "Everythin' looks good, _Chére_ – I'd sign it at least. Go 'head, you don' hafta strain your eyes over it."

She nodded, glad that he'd understood what she'd been getting at, and began to sign it, before passing it to Fury.

"Thanks," she whispered to him, and she reached under the table to squeeze his hand, and found herself grabbing his thigh instead, causing him to nearly jump out of the seat.

'Sorry,' she mouthed, blushing furiously as she snatched her hand away from his leg.

He shot her a grin, and then grabbed her hand like she'd been attempting.

Across the table, Kurt glanced at the two contracts, and then began signing his own – while his English was decent speaking-wise, he was still working on reading, and the terms used in the contract seemed like gibberish to him, so he decided to trust Remy's analysis.

As Logan turned his own over to Fury, Nick pulled out four thick black wallet-sized bundles, and set them on the table. He glanced over to Remy. "Let me see yours," he said.

Remy reluctantly pulled his fake S.H.I.E.L.D. badge from the pocket of his trenchcoat, and slid it over to Fury.

Nick flipped it open, and glanced it over, a low whistle escaping his mouth. "Shit, this is good work. Probably fool most S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Where'd you get it?"

"A friend. It's one of a kind, if dat's what you're gettin' at. We're good friends an' dis is somethin' m'friend would make only for me."

Fury let out a small chuckle at the small amount of information Remy had given him. "Fair enough," he said, tossing it back to him. "But these – these are the real deal. RFID chips inside the CAC will get you access to any S.H.I.E.L.D. computer terminal and any of our installations. Probably into most other agencies, though I'd like you to keep that to as much of a minimum as possible."

He picked up one of the badges. "We used the pictures you took for your visitor badges. If you don't like 'em, we can get you a new picture later, but these are yours now."

He grabbed them one by one, and tossed each to their new owner. "Folks, welcome to X-Force."

* * *

_**A/N:**__ Hey everyone, hope y'all liked it. It ended up growing to massive proportions beyond what I'd planned, so you'll see the other big event I'd planned in the next chapter instead of with this one._

_Hopefully it was a decent mix of relationships and plot advancement, and hope Kurt's accent was alright. More on Dom, Jamie, and Clarice in future X-Force chapters. As you can see – Logan, despite having lost his memory of his past life before Weapon X, still has quite a bit that's happened since then._

_S.H.I.E.L.D. and X-Force will begin to have a bigger part in future chapters, and even more so in the sequel. Creed's plans will begin making more sense with the next chapter, and things will slowly start to kick into gear for the final chapter._


	28. Chapter 28: Proving

_**Disclaimer: X-men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So please don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway. ;)**_

_A/N: Hey everyone, thanks for the great reviews last chapter, glad you liked SHIELD. I'm pretty sure you're gonna love this one – plenty of sweet moments with two of our couples, and some more character development. But as well, a big event that will influence the team for a long time to come. What is it? Read and find out. :P_

**Chapter 28: Proving**

* * *

Logan was the last one out of the car, and shut the door, allowing the driver to pull around in the driveway and gun the engine away from the Institute.

"Well… Dat was fun," Remy said, fingering the large metal briefcase Agent Carter had handed him before they'd left the Helicarrier.

Inside, was a ruggedized laptop with a secure satellite uplink to the S.H.I.E.L.D. network – to be used until Fury and Carter got a tech team out to the mansion to set up something more permanent. It could only be accessed by first swiping through the RFID chips on one of their badges.

In their pockets, they each had a slim cellular phone, encrypted, and the same model Remy had seen Fury use back on Alcatraz to speak to the President. Carter told them to keep it with them at all times – they would be how S.H.I.E.L.D. kept in contact with them, and how they could get in contact with Sharon if they needed to.

"I'm not sure if 'fun' is th'word for it, Cajun," Logan said. "Damn impressive and crazy, maybe."

"Kinda excitin' though," Rogue said. "Probably be able to do more than we could as just th'X-Men."

"True. Ve do not have as many limitations legally anymore," Kurt said.

Logan shook his head. "Just can't believe I'm workin' for the government like this, after Stryker. Least Fury seems like he hates 'im as much as I do. You too, eh fuzzy?" he asked, looking at Kurt.

Kurt's face broke into a slight grin. "_Ja_. Und if you call me 'fuzzy', again, I vill haff to call you the 'fluffy Volverine', eh?"

Logan's jaw dropped, and he stopped in his tracks. "That – that was actually a good one, elf." He said with a laugh. "You're not too bad."

"Logan is a little fluffy, don't yah think, Remy?" Rogue said teasingly as they neared the front door.

Whatever else she'd been planning to say was cut off by Sarah, who flew out of the doorway and practically tackled her with a hug, and then moved on to Remy who had been standing behind Rogue.

"Whoa, careful, _petite_," Remy said, holding the metal briefcase to the side as she hugged him tightly.

Logan reached out and took the case for him. "I'll take this down to th'war room," he said.

Remy nodded, and used his free hand to pull himself slightly away from Sarah. "Tol' you we'd be back in time," he said.

Sarah pouted. "It's already almost four o'clock, though. You hafta hurry an' get changed. Dani an' Lorna are probably already down at the stables."

"Alrigh', I'll hurry," he said, leaning down to kiss her forehead. "You run on down an' start gettin' de saddles an' bridles out for us, _hein_?"

"Alright," Sarah said eagerly.

He patted her head before she raced off back into the mansion, toward the back door. He exchanged a grin with Rogue. "Well, guess we should get changed den."

He glanced at Kurt who was watching them with a slight smile. "You wanna go ridin', _mon ami_?"

Kurt shook his head. "_Nein_, you go on und haff fun. Animals do not agree with me. I think it is the tail," he said, gesturing at his tail whish swished back and forth behind him as he talked. "I vould just spook your horses. Thank you, though."

"No problem, Kurt. See you at supper den?"

"Ja."

* * *

Remy tapped his fingers on the saddle that hung on its rack. Dani, Rogue, Sarah, and himself had already saddled their horses, and he was considering if he should saddle another for Lorna, who Sarah had said might come.

"Hey guys," Lorna's voice came from the doorway.

Rogue smiled. "Hey Lorna, Ah was wonderin' if yah were comin'," she said, turning to look at the green-haired girl. Sarah had obviously warned her to wear something comfortable, as she had dressed in a pair of jeans and a light blouse.

She had her hands in her back pockets, and she looked around the stable nervously. "Soooo…. I've never done this before, so please don't laugh at me if I fall off a few hundred times or something…."

Rogue grinned. "Don't worry 'bout that – ev'ryone falls. We'll help yah along."

Sarah nodded. "I fell off a bunch of times when I started ridin' without anyone holdin' onto the horse. But it's still fun!"

Remy picked up the saddle. "Alrigh', Lorna, we're gonna put you on Brightwind here," he said, moving over to rub the nose of a golden-brown colored horse, before leading her out of her stall.

He began saddling her up, as Lorna moved closer, and held out her hand for the horse to sniff. "One of us will either be ridin' right next to you or nearby," he said, nodding at Rogue and Dani. "Just, 'long as you don' get too nervous, you should be fine. Dey can sense when you're scared of dem."

Lorna nodded, and then smiled at the four of them. "Thanks - for inviting me, I mean."

Rogue shook her head, and moved over to help Remy finish preparing Brightwind. "S'no problem, Lorna. You're our friend, an Ah think you'll like it."

Rogue secured the reigns in her hand. "Alrigh', now just climb on – one foot in that stirrup, an' use that t'help yah swing your leg over."

Lorna unsteadily made her way onto the back of the horse, and sighed with relief when she balanced on the saddle.

"Alrigh', Remy'll show yah th'basics – Ah'll lead Sarah outta th'stables."

Remy smiled, and hopped onto his own horse with ease, moving up alongside Lorna. "So – y'take de reigns, an' hold dem like dis…."

* * *

"I take it things went well, Logan?" Xavier asked Logan as he returned from placing the S.H.I.E.L.D. laptop in the War Room.

Logan nodded. "Yeah. We decide to join," he said, slipping the S.H.I.E.L.D. badge out of his pocket and flipping it open. "Got a laptop right now to access their network. I'll have to take a look later to see what they've got on the Purifiers."

Charles smiled. "I'd figured you four would take the offer. I hope we can do a lot more now, both through this information for the X-Men, and whatever Nick has you do."

Charles shook his head. "Nick already set up that bank account I'd mentioned to you. Five million dollars."

Logan whistled. "Shit. We could build a new mansion with that."

Charles chuckled at that. "I know. He insisted it was to keep us satisfied with being part of S.H.I.E.L.D. It will more than pay for the security system once Remy gets it going, and for the renovations, and still have more than half left over."

"Got any ideas for the rest?"

"Other than improving the team's equipment and setting up further expansions for the year after next, no. And Nick said we'd be getting it every year…" Charles frowned. "I'll be giving this quite a bit of thought."

Logan patted him on the shoulder. "Good luck with that," he said with a grin.

He laughed. "Thank you, Logan," he said dryly, before changing the subject "Are you still planning to lead that Danger Room session later this week?"

Logan nodded. "Thursday. I'm tweaking the routines a bit since it will be _all_ of us," he said, referring to the trainee X-men like Dani. "Show you what I've got when I'm done, let you add to it, alright?"

Xavier nodded, satisfied. "Alright, Logan. Get it to me whenever you're finished."

* * *

"Hey, I've been looking for you," Ororo said softly.

Logan glanced over at her from where he sat on the bench, staring into the forest surrounding the Mansion grounds. "Hey," he said, smiling slightly.

"Join me?" He asked, gesturing to the seat next to him.

Ororo moved to his side, sitting on the bench and leaning back, bringing her knees up to her chest and moving her arms around her legs, sighing softly when he put his arm around her. "What's wrong?" She asked.

He glanced at her in momentary surprise. "What d'you mean?"

Ororo rolled her eyes at his attempt to play dumb. "You've been quiet since you got back from that meeting with Fury. Distant."

He smiled slightly. "It's nothin' really. Just been doin' a lot of thinkin'. Girl that's gonna be on the team, her name's Neena – I know her. She was like ten when I last saw her, now she's all grown up – some sorta mercenary. We were pretty close way back then – I think Rogue reminded me of her, an' that's part of the reason we bonded."

He shook his head. "When I saw her I couldn't believe I hadn't bothered to check up on her for fourteen years. Just got me thinkin' about the people I haven't talked to for a long time." He sighed. "And then got me wonderin' how many people I left behind that I can't remember. If there are other Neenas out there that I abandoned without knowing it when I lost my memory."

Ororo settled her hand on top of his, and grasped it comfortingly. "Probably. You can be gruff, and sometimes you're simply impossible," Ororo said with a teasing smile. "But you have a big heart, so I don't doubt you knew and loved people before Stryker did his experiments… But you aren't to blame. It's not your fault you lost your memory, and you're not going to do yourself – or them – any good lingering over, wondering about something you can't remember."

Logan nodded, and moved his gaze from staring into the forest, to resting on her face. "Guess you're right. Got more than enough to worry about in the now. Neena, Rogue, you…" He whispered, leaning forward to kiss her lightly.

He rested his forehead on hers for several long moments. "I was wonderin'. You maybe wanna… go someplace sometime? Grab somethin' to eat?" He asked, somewhat awkwardly.

Ororo laughed. "If that was your attempt to ask me out on a date, the answer is yes."

Logan nodded. "It was, sorry, guess I'm a little rusty. I'll… figure out a place, and let you know?"

Ororo grinned, and kissed his cheek. "Sure. I'm looking forward to it. Now, Remy was going to cook me some dinner and I'm sure he'll have enough for one more if you want some. You gonna come with me or stay here a while?"

Logan stood with her, their hands still gripping one another's. "Let's see what the cajun cooked up," he said with a grin.

* * *

Rogue changed into her 'workout clothes' – taking Remy's advice on what to wear – and made her way downstairs. They'd ridden for hours on Saturday, until the sun had begun to go down.

Despite her initial wariness, Lorna had taken well to riding, and toward the end, Remy, Dani and herself had let her ride without them hovering nearby. Rogue grinned when she remembered dinner that night – it seemed Lorna had started a friendship with Warren, and they'd cooked dinner and eaten together at a table in the corner of the kitchen.

She thought it was cute, and it had seemed like they might have a bit of chemistry together from what she'd seen. At the very least Lorna had more than just her four horse-riding companions as friends in the mansion.

The rest of the weekend had been relatively slow – given its rather surprise-filled beginning – finishing up homework, and just relaxing on the couch next to Remy and Sarah in front of the television.

Rogue walked into the exercise room, and the lights were already on, the room well lit. Remy was holding one of the several barbells in the exercise room, and a large twenty-five kilo weight hung on each end. The length of the barbell was rested across his shoulders, and she heard him exhale as he lowered himself into a set of deep squats.

Rogue couldn't help but to stare at him, his usual pants, shirt, and often-present trenchcoat had been traded in for a pair of jogging shorts and a thin white tank-top. The tattoo of the Ace of Spades card encircled by fire stood out on his right bicep due to the sheen of sweat on his skin.

She blinked when she realized that at some point he had noticed her, placed the barbell back up on its rack and turned to her, saying something. She shook her head. "Sorry, what?"

Remy grinned – much too smugly in her opinion – and repeated himself. "I asked if y'were ready. But you look a bit too distracted."

She glared at his ribbing. "Yeah, Ah'm ready. But why'd we come here 'stead of th'Danger Room?"

"Well, you did great last time, an' we can do a bit of review at de end, but dis session I mainly jus' wanted t'see if we can get an idea of how strong you are..." Remy said.

Rogue bit her lip, and nodded. "Alright."

Remy turned back to the barbell he'd set aside, removed the pins, and slid on two more twenty-five kilo disks. Rogue's eyes widened slightly as he grunted and pulled it off of the rack – it was easily over two hundred pounds now.

She hesitated when he brought the barbell over to her, her hands twitching slightly at the idea of trying to lift that. Then she took a breath, realizing that her mind was still wired for her old strength, and knew she'd easily be able to lift it.

She grabbed it from him, and lifted it, doing a standing press, bringing it up to her chest and back down, and stared at it in amazement: it felt as light as a one of the one kilogram dumbbells sitting along the wall had once felt to her.

She glanced up at Remy and shook her head. "It's really weird. Doesn' feel like it weighs anything, but when I carry normal things like mah books, they don't feel any differen'."

Remy nodded thoughtfully. "Figured dat might be de case. De powers you got from Carol are probably all mental – your mind adjusts t'diffren' circumstances an' tell's y'powers what to do. Dat makes me wonder jus' what you can actually lift."

Within a few minutes, she'd worked up to four twenty-five kilo plates on each end, and only then started to feel a bit of an increase in the weight. Then Remy grabbed the other barbell, and loaded it up similarly, and she awkwardly held both of them, one resting in the crooks of her elbows and the other in her hands, and she felt the sensation of weight increase noticeably but not enormously.

She shook her head, shifting them so one dangled from each hand, reveling in the fact that she was holding nearly 900 pounds of weight and that it only felt like holding a thirty pound weight.

She smiled sheepishly at Remy. "Ah don' think we can get much more weight with what we have, but… Ah think Ah could probably do several more of these, at th'very least double this," she said quietly, slowly curling each hand upward and back down with the barbells.

Remy chuckled. "So, 'least a ton, probably more."

"We'll hafta figure something out next time to see – Ah'd like t'know what mah limits are."

Remy nodded, letting her get in several dozen repetitions with each barbell. "Maybe Fury's got somethin'. He did say dey used t'have dat heavy-hitter guy on de team."

"Good idea," she said as she finally relinquished the barbells to him, letting him take them one at a time and remove the plates, putting them back in their rightful place.

"Y'know, most guys couldn' stand their girls bein' stronger den dem, an' I'd probably feel the same if y'looked like some sorta bodybuilder with bulgin' muscles, but you," Remy said, running his eyes over her hungrily before kissing her lightly on the nose. "are jus' damn hot."

A flush darkened her cheeks, darker than the color that had developed from her exertions, and she leaned against him, inviting another kiss. "Ah sure hope yah aren't givin' the same treatment to the others," she said teasingly.

He grinned, and slowly maneuvered them so her back was resting against the wall. He leaned closely against her, and kissed her deeply. "_Non_, you're my fav'rite student so you get de special treatment," he murmured.

"Good," she whispered, the color of her eyes seeming to darken with pleasure as she wrapped her arms around behind his back and pulled him even closer, sighing at the feeling of his warm body pressing against hers.

"'Sides, Pete's m'next fav'rite student an' he just ain' my type," Remy said.

Rogue giggled, and surprised him with a swat to his ass – easy reach given where her hands were behind him.

"Oh, dat's how we're playin' it, my feisty _Chére_? You like it a bit rough den?" He whispered in her ear.

"Sure – jus' remember yah just got done tellin' me Ah'm stronger'n you." Rogue said with a teasing grin.

Remy chuckled, and rested his forehead against the wall next to her head, his ear tingling slightly when it touched the side of her face.

Rogue moved one of her arms, brushing her palm up his chest and to his cheek. "Ah know you, Remy – tryin' t'get mah mind off what Fury said…"

Remy sighed. "Y'too damn smart," he said.

She used her hand to pull his head back so she could look into his eyes. "Why didn' yah tell me when yah mentioned blowin' up the theater?"

Remy chuckled bitterly. "I was just gettin' to know you, _Chére_. What should I have said – '_yknow, I lost control of m'powers before, too, blew up a bunch of kids an' their parents while they were enjoyin' a play – oh, an' den I led a bunch of murderin' bastards to kill mutants in de tunnels in New York_'? Not 'zactly the way to make a good impression on a _femme_ you're intr'ested in."

Rogue smiled at him sadly. "Oh, Remy," she said, kissing his forehead. "Ah guess y'have a point. Ah jus'… Ah hate it when you're hurtin' like this. Ah wish Ah could take away th'guilt yah feel. But Ah guess that's what makes yah mah Remy."

Remy nodded weakly. "It'll take a while, but 'ventually you'll learn everythin' in m'past dat's made me tick. Dis… It doesn' affect me as much anymore. I've accepted it, an' dat it wasn' my fault. An' you've been helpin' wit' de Tunnels…" He glanced away.

She moved her hand up to run it through his hair. "Ah'm glad Ah've been helpin' yah. An' if yah need to talk 'bout anythin' – even the stuff yah haven' told me 'bout yet… Ah'll be here t'listen."

"I know y'will, _ma Cherie_," Remy said, before driving her to distraction by kissing slowly along her neck from her earlobe to her throat.

* * *

"_The Church of Humanity has been making headlines the past few days with the congregation of the Houston branch of the church coming out to boycott the funerals of several mutants killed in a recent attack on a Cure center."_

_"The move has engendered both outrage and support by many people across the nation. The group marched around the small church and cemetery during the funeral services and the burials – according to the families of those slain, chanting loud enough to be heard throughout the service."_

_"An attempt to block in the procession of cars carrying the caskets from the church to the cemetery was broken up by the police escort, but the protestors were quick to follow, and picket outside the cemetery fences."_

_"The families, and many throughout the nation have been angered by what they call a blatant disrespect for the dead, and accuse the congregation of 'utter bigotry', to quote the father of one of the victims. Some of the signs being used were too crude to show on our broadcast, but here is a sampling of some of the 'tamer' ones."_

Images of signs saying 'Mutants burn in hell', and 'God hates muties', as well as 'Muties don't deserve graves', flashed across the television screen, and Rogue turned it off in disgust. '_Some people,_' she thought, '_are just sick – protesting _funerals?'

She tried to force their tactics from her mind, and decided to fly for a bit. She and Carol had discussed testing her powers a bit more after that session in the exercise room with Remy, and one of the things she'd done the least work with was her flight.

It was still early morning, and anyone who wasn't in class was either asleep or inside eating breakfast. She slipped out the back door, and walked slowly toward the basketball court.

Once she'd given herself enough distance so that she was pretty sure she wouldn't go crashing through the roof of the mansion if she lost control, she focused on the thought of ascending, and her powers slowly responded.

She opened her eyes, and found herself hovering a good ten feet above the basketball hoops. "Alright, you can do this," she muttered to herself, and looked upward at the sky, and began to ascend.

It was… different from her test flight in the Danger Room. Being outside, it felt more free, not confined by the walls of a building. She rose quickly through the air, and within a minute, the Mansion had shrunk beneath her, looking more like a tiny house than the large building it was.

Suddenly a white object obscured her vision, and she jerked her head back, before realizing she'd kept rising up into a low-lying cloud. She laughed with delight, and stretched out her hand to touch it, the vapors dancing around her hand at her movement – it felt little different than running her hand through a thick fog – a bit damp, but not much more than that.

She focused, and shot upward, punching a hole through the cloud, and came out above its top. She saw a few other clouds in the distance, but the day was mostly sunny. She felt a giddiness rise up in her as she stared down at a world she usually only saw while taking off in an airplane. She could see the buildings of the town near the Mansion, and view the entire forest she'd ridden through many times on horse-back.

"This is great," she murmured. "Yah feelin' all this, Carol?"

She felt, rather than heard, Carol chuckle, but it was with a tinge of sadness.

"Yah alright?" She asked, wanting to enter her subconscious to see Carol face-to-face but worried she'd simply plummet to the earth if she did.

'_Yeah, I'm fine, Rogue. It's fun, just… wishing I'd had the chance to do all this before my dad got the collar.'_

Rogue's breath caught in her throat. "Aw, damn, Ah'm sorry, Carol… But, y'know, yah ever wanna do this, Ah'll give yah control…"

'_I know, Rogue. Maybe another time. Just enjoy yourself and take me along for the ride – that in itself is rubbing his face in it even if he doesn't know it._'

A sad smile creased Rogue's features. "Alright. Ah'm gonna try flyin' horizontally, so hang on, it could get bumpy." She said teasingly.

She bit her lip, and then focused, and found herself jetting along sideways. She flailed slightly, until she managed to turn her body horizontally as well, and then stared downward at the quickly passing countryside.

It was a _lot_ better than the Danger Room – no worrying about running headfirst into the walls. She had no idea how fast she was going, but as she sped thousands of feet above the highway that led toward North Salem, she was easily passing cars that had to be going sixty miles an hour. The only thing resisting her was the wind which whipped her hair around her face and slightly buffeted her around, forcing her to make slight course corrections.

She blinked when she found herself passing over the city itself, and stuttered to a stop, not wanting to get too far away from the mansion. Looking back she could just barely see Xavier's land in the distance, and she turned, jetting back in the direction she came.

It would definitely take some getting used to, flying like this. She tended to be more a road-name person than a landmark person when she drove, and aside from no longer being able to see those road-signs, flying up this high would likely throw off even a landmark person.

'_Things look so different up here_, she thought to herself. She had to be careful not to get completely lost if she flew further than this in the future.

She focused her mind on the feeling of flying, and came to an abrupt halt when she realized she had almost passed over the mansion without thinking. Another thing to get used to, she thought: the distances she could cross at the high speeds she'd been moving.

Deciding that would need a bit more practice, she chose to try her height limits instead. She darted upward, the world ever-shrinking beneath her. She rose, and kept rising, eventually slowing when it became much colder, the winds much stronger, trying to blast her to the side.

Her eyes widened, and she sent herself into a dive when she saw a passenger jet move along a half-mile away from her, just slightly above her in altitude, hoping she'd moved quickly enough that no one on board had seen her.

It was the diving, head-first, more than any other part of the flying that gave her the biggest adrenaline rush. She could feel her heart pounding as she tore through the sky, faster than any other person could plummet, and she realized for the first time why people liked skydiving.

She let out a whoop of joy, and felt Carol laughing along with her, as she pulled out of the dive once she could see the mansion clearly again.

She let herself slowly drift downward, catching her breath from the exhilaration of the dive, when she saw a flash of white below her near the lake. She let herself drop another thousand feet or so, and squinted, and she realized the white she'd seen were enormous wings flapping – apparently she wasn't the only one who'd felt like flying this morning.

She dropped again, trying to come out level with Warren as he flew. "Morning, Warren," she tried to greet him, but had estimated her distances poorly, and came to a tumbling stop a dozen feet below him before recovering and moving back up next to him.

Warren himself needed a moment to recover – his wings stopped flapping in surprise at the person who plummeted past him, saying his name. "Jeez, you scared the crap out of me," Warren said as Rogue neared him and he recognized her.

Rogue chuckled. "Sorry. Still getting the hang of things – didn't mean to spook you. Good morning for flying, I guess?"

Warren grinned. "Yeah. I like coming out about this time – the thermals are just starting to develop, and it makes it a lot easier to fly when I don't have to flap as much."

She eyed his wings with interest as they rhythmically moved, keeping him in place next to her, and then she caught him staring at her.

"Is mah hair a mess?" she asked, reaching up to pat at it, and finding it was indeed rather messy from being blown about.

Warren shook his head. "No, sorry, it's not that, I was just thinking. I wonder how all these little mutant genes in our body decide what powers they're going to give us, and how they're going to manifest. Why, for example, did they decide to let both of us fly, and let you do it…. However you're doing it, and give me these big wings."

Rogue smiled, and brushed her hair back out of her face. "Ah… guess Ah never really thought of it like that. Maybe that's somethin' th'Professor has thought about. But, anyway, these aren't really mah powers."

Warren's eyebrows rose. "They're not?" He asked, confused.

She shook her head. "_Mah_ genes decided to let me absorb th'memories an' powers of anyone that touches mah skin. Ah got these powers from a girl who was… she was dyin', and she held onto me, an' Ah've had them ever since." She shook her head. "Slowly gettin' control so Ah don't just vamp anyone that touches me, but it's tough."

Warren grimaced. "I thought I had it bad with enormous wings…" He said. "Sorry-"

Rogue shook her head, and smiled. "Don't worry – in mah opinion yah're the one worse off – least I can blend inta the crowd without havin' ta hide anythin'. Sure it sucks not bein' able to touch, but at least Ah'll be able to control it one day."

Warren nodded. "I've… started to not care if people know I'm a mutant. After Alcatraz, I'm done hiding."

Rogue smiled. "Ah think that's probably th'best attitude ta have. If we try ta hide ourselves, live in th'shadows for the 'normal' people ta not be afraid, it'll just make th'bigots out there stronger, make this mutant-hate last longer."

"Never thought of it big-picture like that, but I guess you're right," he said, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Maybe…" He shook his head. "Sorry, just thinking to myself – you gave me an idea, but I want to think about it for a bit."

Rogue laughed, and then gasped when she glanced at her watch. "Ah'll leave yah t'think 'bout it then – Ah've gotta get changed an' get to the Professor's office for mah ethics class. Bein' up out here makes yah lose track of time."

Warren nodded knowingly, and watched her move toward the ground, still marveling at her ability to fly without wings. He chuckled slightly when she skidded to a halt on the lawn, digging a twelve-foot long divot in the sod with her feet – it seemed she really was still getting used to flying – he'd had more than his fair share of hard landings since he'd started flying at the Mansion.

The idea he'd had, that sprung into his mind at Rogue's comments, came back to him again. Perhaps Xavier would be a good person to talk to first before he tried anything. And then there would be the matter of talking to his father again, and hoping that the events at Alcatraz had at least opened his mind a bit. But if it worked…

Angel shook his head, and swept his wings outward, soaring higher. It could wait until later, especially since Xavier would be teaching minutes from now. Right now, it was just himself, the wind, and his thoughts.

* * *

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, DARPA, has existed for decades – since the launching of Sputnik by the USSR. It was established as part of the Department of Defense, and tasked with the responsibility of developing new and unique technologies for the military.

They were responsible for much of space technology for several years before NASA was created to take over civilian development and technologies, which allowed them to focus on solely military technologies, like ballistic missile defense systems.

One of their early projects, when they were under the name of Advanced Research Projects Agency, was known as ARPANET. This project was designed to connect computer systems and data in various military installations throughout the US. Eventually the concept was built upon to become the Internet of today.

DARPA led the charge into advancing artificial intelligence, as well as weapons systems and was responsible for the creation of the widely used Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for the military.

The offices of DARPA sat in an unassuming black-windowed office building in the Virginia Square neighborhood in Arlington. On the outside, it would appear no different than any of the other office buildings in the area, but that building is where some of the most advanced work in the world is done by a number of teams of engineers and scientists. The main goal was to produce visible advances in the technology, and get at least to prototype stage before finishing the project and handing it off to another agency to handle the production.

However, systems developed needed to be tested, especially in the case of the larger ones – to ensure the prototypes were working. This "proving" process did not occur on-site due to the nature of the urban setting of the main offices, but rather at various DOD military bases across the country.

That was what brought Four-Star General, and member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, George Tatum, and a number of other military officials to Yuma, Arizona.

Yuma was a small town, established in the 1800's as a military fort, which grew from there. It rested near the borders of California and Mexico, and set at the very edge of the expansive Sonoran Desert.

Thirty miles to the northeast, in the desert, rested the US Army's Yuma Proving Grounds – one of the largest military installations in the world, and the largest testing area of its kind. Within its boundaries, virtually every ground weapons system, and many air systems, as well as parachute designs have been tested for decades.

General Tatum shifted in his seat along one side of the C-130 transport he and his assistants had been taken in on, as the landing gear of the transport whined and locked into place. He passed a hand over his close-cropped salt-and-pepper hair, and glanced out the window. Outside, the hills and nearby mountains were desolate, with little more than shrubs and brown grasses covering the brown soil of the desert.

The engines of the aging aircraft groaned for a moment as they lined it up with the runway, and then the noise died down until the wheels hit the pavement, the engines then spooling up to provide reverse thrust to slow it down and bring them to a stop near one of the larger buildings of the installation.

General Tatum released his harnesses, and stood while adjusting his uniform which had become wrinkled during the long flight. He then turned with his aides toward the exit, walking down the long set of steps that had been maneuvered up next to the exit on the side of the plane.

At the bottom, he was met by a man in his early forties, Lee Worth, who was basically the head of the project he was there to view. Lee had been barred from military service due to his severe asthma, and had settled for going to college as he'd planned, and later joining military design teams, one of which was now part of DARPA.

"Lee, good to see you. It's damn hot out here, could we get inside?" Tatum asked, squinting against the glaring sun, already feeling beads of sweat on the nape of his neck.

"Yes sir, this way. Lucky you came today – this is one of the _cool_ days here. Tomorrow we're getting up to 100 degrees. During the summer I hear they can break 120."

Tatum sighed with relief as they entered the cool air of the hangar. "Well, I know where I won't be moving to when I retire," he said with a small laugh. "Do we have far to go?"

Lee shook his head. "No, maybe five miles in the jeeps," he said, nodding to several nondescript military jeeps. "After that we'll be in an air-conditioned trailer."

"Alright, let's get the ride over with."

* * *

Minutes later, Tatum, Lee, and a number of the other passengers of the plane were bouncing across a dirt road between the hangars of the main airstrip on the base to one of the adjoining testing range complexes, this one called the Cibola Range.

They drove near the outskirts of a large, mockup city complete with full-scale buildings and vehicles along the roads. This was one of two such urban terrain sites on the range, and was used for testing of combat systems.

If Tatum hadn't known better, the city would likely have convinced him he was in Iraq or Afghanistan, the desert climate surrounding it only adding to the image already portrayed by the building designs.

They drove past the city, into a flat plain outside of it, which extended out across the horizon, and looked like it was likely used for artillery testing. Soon enough, Tatum spotted a large 'vehicle' resting on its wheels. It was the size of a large semi trailer, but not blocky – instead it had a rather smoothed semi-circular shape. It had a hookup on the front where it could be attached to the large semi cab that sat nearby.

The train of jeeps rumbled to a halt near the trailer, and General Tatum climbed out, followed by Lee, who waved at the dust cloud kicked up by the drive, which slowly drifted out from in front of their faces.

"'Master Mold'?" Tatum asked in an amused voice, reading the letters stenciled on the side of the trailer.

Lee smiled. "Yes, I think one of the techs came up with the name and it stuck – don't really know what the real meaning behind it is, probably an in-joke amongst the engineers." Lee said with a shrug. "This is our command center for the project – everything is controlled from here. On the battlefield we'd have one handling four separate squads – completely modular and easily relocateable."

He tapped on the back door of the trailer, which someone inside opened, revealing a narrow space inside. "Thick, reactive armor takes up most of the space and protects everyone here in the core of the trailer. We're probably better protected than most tanks out there."

Tatum nodded. "Looks that way," he said, running his eyes over the entrance, before stepping in behind Lee. His aides and the other personnel followed him, and then the door was closed behind them.

Inside, the trailer was set up with a long line of monitors resting on desks, and several large plasma-screen televisions hanging above them, evenly spaced along the trailer. Most of the stations had technicians at them, and it looked like they were preparing for the test run.

There was room behind the technicians for people to walk past, as well as stand and look over their soldiers. He saw a number of lower ranking officials he knew or had met in the past, people from the Marine Corps, Air Force, as well as the Army, already in the trailer, and over the next minute he found himself being greeted by most of them.

He finally moved to stand near the center of the trailer with Lee, and he watched as the final preparations were made. He glanced up at the large television monitor in front of him, which he assumed would display images for the onlookers once it started.

At the moment, however, it was simply showing a blue background emblazoned with the name of the project they were there to observe: 'SENTient Interfaceable Neurosynthetic Electronic Lifeform Program'.

Like any good government program, it had followed the unwritten rule of being made into an acronym – thus the much easier to say and more recognizable shortening as the SENTINEL Program.

"Who're they?" Tatum asked Lee quietly, nodding to two people who were moving slowly around the stations, speaking with the technicians.

"They're the people responsible for getting us this far – some of the best men I've worked with."

He nodded to a young African American man, who was wearing a pair of thick black-rimmed glasses that gave made him look the stereotypical "nerdy" student, perhaps just out of college.

"That's Larry Trask - one of the youngest we've had in the Agency, his father is Bolivar Trask," Lee said, referencing the Secretary of Homeland Security. "That got him a bit of pull on getting on the team, but I'm glad it worked out that way. He's the one responsible for most of the robotics work. Before he came in, we were struggling at getting prototypes that could do anything close to what we wanted."

Lee nodded toward an older man, in his early forties, the hair near his temples graying slightly. He was one of the tallest men in the room, and his barrel-chest made him appear even larger.

"That's Stephen Lang, he's our main programmer. He and his team developed the Artificial Intelligence of the SENTINELs, everything that makes them go. Hell of a lot of work – he's been on this project for seven years now. One of the best in the business."

A bit of wind howled through the trailer as the door was opened once more to let in another spectator. Tatum nodded in greeting to Alexander Porter, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, there in the stead of the Secretary of Defense – he and Tatum would be the ones that decided if the project was worth taking off of DARPA's hands and going full scale with it.

"Alex, how was the flight out?" He asked with a grin.

Alex shook his head. "Too damn long. Been a while since I've been in a Hercules. Now it just shows me how old I'm getting," he said, reaching up to massage the back of his neck with a wince.

He squeezed past Tatum, and moved to stand in front of one of the other monitors. Lee glanced around, taking note of each person there, and then glanced to Tatum. "I think that's everyone. Larry, Steve, we ready?"

Stephen Lang stood up from where he was hunched over a console with another technician. "Looks that way," he said, his voice having a dry, nasally sound to it.

Larry Trask shot them a thumbs up as he pointed to the console he was looking at and murmured something to the tech, whose hands quickly flew over the keyboard.

"Alright." Lee said, leaning forward to pick up a large sat phone. "Heron One, this is Master Mold, you are clear for takeoff and airdrop." He said into it, and got a positive confirmation from the other end.

Lee set it down and moved back to stand next to Tatum. "That's our transport plane – he's taking off from our airstrip, circling, and dropping them in. We want this to simulate real conditions as much as possible."

He nodded to the monitors, which had changed from the SENTINEL logo to a shifting view from different cameras that appeared to be placed all over the mock city they'd passed. "They'll be dropping in there. The garrison stationed at the base here volunteered for the live run. They'll be in the city performing various actions – some will act as friendly military units, others will act as citizens moving through the city, and a number will act as enemy combatants."

"Live run?" Tatum asked, startled. "You're using live rounds?"

Lee shook his head. "No, the soldiers acting as insurgents will be using rubber rounds – we don't want to damage the SENTINELs right now – we've already gone through the proving runs on that and the armor holds up pretty damn well. They're programmed to register hits as real hits, though, and they'll shut down systems to match a hit."

"SENTINELs themselves will be using Less-Than Lethal weapons, including rubber bullets. That was the agreement beforehand – some people are leery of turning deadly weapons over to robots. They're quite proficient with them anyways, and their weapons systems are modular, so in the future we can hook up assault rifles, rocket launchers, the works, if you can get it through Congress and all that."

Tatum nodded. "You said the armor holds up well? How well?"

"Mortar round can do some serious damage, but anything less than that, aside from a fifty cal doesn't do much more than cosmetic damage. It takes a serious barrage to start hurting the internals."

Tatum glanced back at the screen where several of the soldiers, dressed as civilians, walked across the view of one of the cameras.

"Alright, let's see how it goes. I'll let you know now I'm pretty skeptical, so if this works as well as you say it does, I'll be impressed. If this goes well, I think we'll take it to full production," Tatum said.

"I'm pretty sure you'll be impressed, sir. This is nothing like Stark's power suits or that whole fiasco in New York. These have been worked on for years now, and we're confident all the bugs have been worked out." Lee said.

The control room was quiet for several minutes, aside from low chatter amongst the technicians. Then the sat phone rang, and Lee held a discussion with the person on the other end.

Lee set the phone down, and tapped a switch under the screen in front of him, and it switched to a camera view near the edge of the city, pointing outward. On the screen, a large aircraft slowly came into view, which Tatum soon recognized as a C-17 GlobemasterIII, one of the largest transport planes in the US military, capable of carrying nearly 80 tons in payload.

The C-17 circled around the city, and the rear loading/unloading ramp opened up as it flew, revealing its cavernous innards being filled with a large object.

As they watched, the object was pushed down the central track of the cargo bay and dropped from the plane, followed by another identical object – the C-17 was designed to make such airdrops, whether they be pallets of supplies from the height they were at now, or tanks and combat vehicles while skimming mere feet above the ground.

The two objects plummeted nearly a thousand feet before large parachutes deployed, snagging them to a near halt and letting them float slowly to the ground. Each one was a large pod, easily the size of two school-buses parked side by side, and looked much like the sort of landing pod one would see plummeting to the surface of Mars or another planetary body instead of the Sonoran Desert.

Explosive bolts blew off the cords of the parachutes as the pods neared the ground, and they plummeted the final ten feet as the parachutes slowly drifted away to the north, tumbling in the wind.

The pods landed, throwing up clouds of dust, and as the dust cleared, they split open, revealing their contents. A large robotic hand grasped the side of the pod, and used the grip to leverage itself up and out. It was tall, perhaps twenty-five feet in height, gleaming metal covering its humanoid frame. The metallic armor was mix of silver and purple, and covered most of its body.

Visible openings adorned its arms, likely housing its weaponry. The head looked like it had been modeled after a human or ape skull, absent the ears. The metal face-plate looked like it had been molded to make a 'nose' and a stylized mouth set in a permanent firm line; holes were opened above the nose for the 'eye-sockets', from which protruded photoreceptors that shone a deep laser-red.

All in all, the design looked similar to a metal-skeleton clad in plate armor from medieval times. But the face and head reminded Tatum somewhat eerily of the Terminator movies.

Another, identical figure rose from the second pod. Both began to take slow, lumbering steps toward the city, each moving on different routes, one on a northern road and the other on an eastern road.

"Right now they've been informed that insurgent activity has been reported in the last thirty minutes, and ordered to hunt down and neutralize the insurgents." Lee said in explanation.

The cameras followed one of the SENTINELs in particular, as it walked with surprising grace through the streets, around cars and carts and 'civilians'. Its movements very closely mimicked those of a human, but something about its gait was just slightly enough off to hint at its machine nature.

Perhaps the joints and hydraulics being unable to duplicate human joints and muscles perfectly, Tatum mused to himself.

The SENTINEL that the monitor was following, shifting from camera to camera, came to a halt in a large, open intersection, and stood there for several moments. Suddenly the metal plating of its chest and back irised open, and smaller robots, identical in design, activated and exited the compartments they were held in, dropping to the ground.

"The larger SENTINELs are basically the energy source and support vehicles for these main, smaller ones. We designed the small ones to move door to door – they're around six feet tall, squads of four per base SENTINEL. They can operate for up to an hour on their own before they need to recharge with their base SENTINEL, which takes about fifteen minutes itself." Lee said.

"I think we're going to switch to what our techs are seeing, and what the SENTINELs themselves are seeing," he said.

Moments later, the view switched to a red-tinged, ground level image that moved rhythmically, clearly the view transmitted to the trailer from one of the smaller SENTINELs.

Words flashed quickly across the screen, listing out the major decisions and 'thought' processes the SENTINEL was running through – something likely for the benefit of the techs rather than the machine itself.

It entered a small area that looked like it could have been a school, small wire boxes flickering across its vision, tiny labels flashing shortly after as it identified the objects in the room.

One of the boxes settled around the face of a human inside who stood up at its entrance.

:HUMAN DETECTED – ANALYZING:

The vision switched to something that looked almost like an x-ray, revealing a gun in the jacket where the man was resting his hand.

:WEAPON DETECTED – HOSTILE INTENT NOT ESTABLISHED – STANDING BY ENGAGEMENT SEQUENCE:

"The SENTINELs have several types of vision incorporated together. The primary ones are the camera-view ones we've been watching, and the Millimeter Wave radar images you just saw. They're basically like those imagers you can find at airports for virtual strip searches. They send out waves that move freely through organic materials like clothing, and can give you a good image of anything they have hidden – drug bags, weapons, anything."

"STAND DOWN." A monotone voice came over the radio as the SENTINEL vocalized for the first time.

The man began to pull out the gun, and the frame focusing on the man's hand flashed urgently.

:HOSTILE INTENT ESTABLISHED – **ENGAGE?**:

One of the technicians quickly typed out an affirmative command on his board, and as the man began to pull the trigger of the gun, the SENTINEL's arm moved up with astonishing speed, and the dual-prongs of a Taser launched out and connected with the man's chest.

The gun went off in a short burst as the man writhed from the electric shock, and fell to the ground.

:HOSTILE TARGET NEUTRALIZED – SUBDUING TARGET:

On the screen, the view through the robot's eyes showed it extend its arm, a plasticuff emerging from some internal storage through a small port that opened on the SENTINEL's arm.

It moved forward and turned the weakly resisting man on his side, and its surprisingly nimble fingers fastened the man's arms behind his back with the plasticuffs. The fingers were, if not as nimble as a normal humans' were, at the very least they were more mobile and dexterous than someone whose fingers were numb from cold.

The SENTINEL stood up, and finished clearing the small building before halting momentarily at the door. In the left corner of the screen, a small diagram of the SENTINEL appeared, and it seemed to be analyzing itself after the short 'fight'.

:BDR – MINOR COSMETIC DAMAGE TO UPPER LEFT CHEST PORT – NO DAMAGE DETECTED IN SYSTEMS:

"They're programmed to stop after any engagement and determine how much damage they sustained, so we can decide whether or not to pull them out of there. And right now it's making contact with the others in its squad, and they're contacting the base SENTINEL to decide the how to split their routes to search the buildings most likely to contain insurgents," Lee said as fast paced shorthand communications ran across the screen.

The communications ceased, and the screen showed the SENTINEL begin to move again, sweeping building after building, only coming into contact with 'civilians'.

Finally it rounded a corner on one of the streets, and stopped in its tracks as it saw a group of heavily armed men moving down the street. The wire-box targeter zoomed in on the group, identified they were wearing US military uniforms, and in one corner began to run each face through a what looked like a database of troops. It identified six, and stopped.

:DESIGNATION – FRIENDLIES – DO NOT ENGAGE:

The soldiers moved calmly past the SENTINEL, and then it continued on.

The view suddenly changed, moving to the large SENTINEL's viewpoint. It zoomed in on a human it had spotted from where it had been directing the operations.

Like the smaller SENTINEL, its vision switched over to the millimeter radar meshed with a visual image, showing the figure holding what appeared to be an RPG launcher.

:DANGER – WEAPON DETECTED – HOSTILE PERFORMING AIMING FUNCTIONS:

As that flashed across the screen, a puff of smoke appeared behind the man holding the RPG on his shoulder, and the projectile itself jetted toward the towering SENTINEL.

:ENGAGING SELF PROTECT ROUTINE:

A port on its chest, above the compartments that had held the miniature versions of itself, opened up, and a spinning minigun appeared, bullets quickly lancing through the air toward the incoming projectile, swatting it from the air.

:HOSTILE CONFIRMED – **ENGAGE?**:

It took a lumbering step forward at the affirmative command, and the 'insurgent' turned, beginning to run. A visible line mapping out a trajectory appeared on the screen and then the SENTINEL's arm stretched out and launched what looked like a small grenade from one of the weapon ports.

It hit directly at the man's feet, and 'exploded'. In reality it was more like a water balloon popping. A liquid sprayed out of the grenade, soaking the ground around the man, as well as the man himself.

As he took another step, his legs slipped out from under him as if he'd just stepped on a patch of black ice, and he slid across the patch of wet ground. As he struggled to prop himself up on his arms, they slid out from under him, seemingly unable to get a good grip, or _any_ grip on the ground.

:HOSTILE TARGET NEUTRALIZED AND SUBDUED:

Tatum found his eyebrow rising, and he glanced at Lee.

"That's a little something we've been cooking up with the Marines. It's an anti-friction liquid. It's made basically of water, and that gel polymer material contact lenses are made of. It lasts four to eight hours, and makes any hard surface completely frictionless. Thinking of getting it produced fully for protest and riot situations."

"So, more than just a grenade?" Tatum asked.

"Yes sir, the main application would be through hoses. You get this sprayed on a hostile vehicle's tires, or in the path of an insurgent convoy, and they're not going anywhere." Lee replied.

The screen switched back to that of one of the smaller SENTINELs, and they followed its movements through the city as it neutralized several more hostiles, using rubber bullets and tasers.

As it was nearing the end of its patrol of the city, where its searches were beginning to partially overlap with the others of both its squad and the other squad, one of the other SENTINELs flashed a message across the screen indicating contact with a sniper nest holed up in a tall building nearby.

The unit they were following turned down a nearby street, changing course to join the other SENTINEL. Several blocks further, it stopped near another sentinel, standing around a corner from the building in question.

After a short 'conversation' between the two SENTINELs, the base SENTINEL, and the techs in the trailer, their unit moved away from the one it had responded to, and burst from cover in a fast sprint across the street. The loud, cracking report of gunshots sounded over the feed, and they saw one shot spark off of the arm of the SENTINEL.

Their SENTINEL made it to the next building, and stood under cover behind that, turning its photoreceptors in the direction of its companion. That one had taken the distraction as an opportunity to swivel out two jet-like objects on its back. Suddenly those jets lit up with blasts of superheated air, along with similar jets on the bottom of both feet, propelling the robot into the air to land on top of the building it had been behind.

The SENTINEL strode across the roof of that building in two long strides, and bent its knees to leap in the air, the jets lighting again, guiding it up two stories to the top of the sniper building. The jets on its back seemed to provide the primary thrust, and those on its feet could be shifted around by moving the legs, to provide steering and control over the flight.

It landed gracefully on the sniper's building, and instantly moved toward the door on the roof, battering it in. There were flashes of light from inside, and then their SENTINEL began to move, receiving no fire from the distracted men inside.

It burst through the front door, and moved across the main floor, up the stairs, catching several hostiles by surprise. A quick query on whether to engage came up, and it was approved, and the men went down quickly to two tasing devices, and several rubber bullets.

The SENTINEL moved up the next set of stairs, and found its companion finishing up, the snipers at the window lying senseless on the floor. The two SENTINELS moved quickly through the floors, binding the hostiles, and then back out onto the street.

The hour deployment was almost up, so the SENTINELs moved swiftly back to the base SENTINEL, arriving with the others, and climbing back up into the open ports designed for them, for their recharge.

Lee leaned forward, and typed out – "END OF MISSION – STAND DOWN", and then looked up at Tatum and the other officers expectantly.

Tatum exchanged a brief glance with Alex, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, and he nodded to Tatum.

Tatum stepped forward, and shook Lee's hand. "Congratulations, gentlemen," he said, glancing around the trailer at the DARPA employees that had all turned to look. "I'm impressed. This tech could save countless soldiers, and help us deal with the downturn in recruits. You've got your funding – get a full set of ready prototypes, and I'll start the paperwork to get this project funded full-scale by the Army."

One of the generals from the Marine Corps nodded as well. "I'll have to talk to my commander, but I think you can count on us requesting units as well."

A small cheer went up amongst the techs, grinning and high-fiving all around. Once it quieted down again, Tatum cleared his throat. "I don't know how you did it, but congratulations."

Tatum, inclined his head, and his aides and Lee followed him out of the trailer. Outside, in the hot sun, Tatum shook Lee's hand once more. "Your boys should be proud – these SENTINELS are going to change the world, Lee. I'll see about getting you live weapons on them. It'll take a lot of arm-twisting, but I think we can get it for you, at least by the end of the year."

"Thank you, sir. I'm glad you saw the same potential in the project that we did." Lee said.

Tatum nodded, and smiled. "It was good seeing you again, Lee, but I have to get going now. I'll speak to you soon after we get the paperwork going."

On the way out, the jeeps kicking up clouds of dust behind them, they passed the imposing, silent robots, which had been moved to the outskirts of the 'city'. As they moved past the silent machines, which stared impassively outward with their glowing red photoreceptors, Tatum grinned to himself.

'They really live up to their name-sake,' he thought, staring after the SENTINELs watching and guarding the city.

* * *

**A/N:** _Ah, the Sentinels cometh. Hope you guys like my take on a movie-verse version of the Sentinels. They will quickly become a long-lasting problem (both for the rest of this story and for the sequel) for the X-men, starting in a chapter or two._

_Now - anyone who hasn't seen Iron Man 2 – go out this instant and watch it! :D_

_I went to the midnight showing, and it was simply awesome. Just as good as the first if not more so, and I'm getting more and more excited about the upcoming Thor and Captain America movies next year and the Avengers movie._

_Anyway, see you next chapter!_


	29. Chapter 29: Memories

_**Disclaimer: X-men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So please don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway. ;)**_

_A/N:Hey everyone, thanks for the great feedback last chapter – don't hesitate to let me know what you thing, be it criticism or anything else. Hope you like this chapter (either my longest or second longest yet, I believe) – lots of Romy, a nice Danger Room sequence, and lots lots more. Enjoy._

**Chapter 29: Memories**

* * *

Rogue smiled tenderly from where she stood, leaning against the doorjamb of the slightly open door to the garage. She watched as Remy spoke to the entire class, who had gathered around him as he took apart the engine of one of the school motorcycles. He was teaching the high-school aged kids, and somehow had managed to get everyone engaged with something as simple as finding out how a motor actually worked.

'_He'sso good with kids_,' she thought to herself. He was already practically a father in everything but name to Sarah, so it wasn't that surprising, but he'd seemed to have adapted from thieving over to teaching rather easily.

'_Of course the whole X-Men and X-Force thing might be taking care of that particular part of himself,' _she thought_._

Either way, he was quickly becoming the favorite amongst all the kids, and seeing him in this class was an indicator that he'd managed it even with the high-school group – the least likely to respect a teacher, as she herself knew from her own high school years.

She made a mental note to ask him how he did it – she knew if she ever ended up teaching she'd not want that particular age group. She figured she'd end up being the disciplinarian rather than Remy when they-

She froze, her breath catching in her throat before she completed that thought – had she _really_ been thinking about having kids with him?

Heat crept up in her cheeks when she thought about it and realized she could easily see it some day. Perhaps things had become more serious between the two of them then even she'd realized.

She chewed on her lip, wondering if Remy had ever had similar thoughts. A frown came to her face when she realized why she'd always scoffed at the idea of having kids in the past – her powers. Would she _ever_ be able to do it?

She tensed up when a pair of slim arms moved around her waist from behind, hugging her tightly. She smiled slightly, when she recognized the presence, and twisted around to kiss Sarah's forehead. "Hey sweetie," she said softly. "Yah out of class?"

Sarah nodded and pulled back slightly. "We got out a bit early with the Professor. Ten minutes 'till my next one, an' I saw you here. Whatcha doin'?"

Rogue moved to the side slightly, and put an arm around her shoulder to bring her up next to her in the doorway so she could see Remy. "Waitin' for Remy t'finish. Ah'm gonna see if he'll take me ta mah campus in town. Gettin' close to finals an' the teacher's settin' up extra credit stuff."

Sarah nodded, and spoke in the same low voice Rogue was using. "He will," she said, smiling slightly. "I've got three more classes today, so I'll see ya when you get back."

The low tone of the programmed school bell sounded throughout the lower levels of the mansion. "I better go," Sarah said, Rahne catching her eye down the hall. "Have fun. Tell Remy I said hi."

"Ah will, see yah later Sarah," Rogue said, watching with amusement as the younger girl sped down the hall toward her redheaded friend.

Rogue moved out of the way to avoid the mass of young teenagers that began to flood out the door she'd been standing in front of.

As the last ones cleared the door, she moved back to where she'd been standing, and after a moment entered the garage. Remy was putting together the last few pieces of the engine, and he glanced up when he heard her step down onto the concrete floor of the garage.

"Hey, Rogue, what's up?" He asked, smiling.

Rogue walked up to where he was, and leaned on the workbench he'd set the engine on. "Havin' fun?"

Remy nodded, as he screwed in the last screw into the engine block. "_Oui_. Been a while since I worked on a bike. An' they seemed to like it."

Rogue smiled. "I know, I was watching you."

Remy nodded. "Saw you an' Sarah when de bell rang. So, you just practicin' t'be a voyeur, or somethin' else?" He asked her with a grin.

She rolled her eyes. "Ah was wonderin' if yah could give me a ride inta town to campus. They're havin' a sort of 'Meet a Biologist' day in an hour or so, an' our biology prof e-mailed us an' said we'd get extra credit if we came."

"Alrigh', _Chére_. I just need to finish up here an' clean up, an' I can take you."

"Thanks," she said smiling slightly. "Could yah, maybe, sit in with me? We've got a huge class so no one'll know yah aren't in the class. We had to sit through a 'Meet a physicist' day last week while yah were teachin' here, an' it was borin'. An' maybe we could go out an' get ice cream after or somethin'?"

Remy smiled. "Y'don' need to bribe me wit' treats, y'know. Woulda come anyway." He reached out to take her hand, but then thought better of it, seeing the grease on his hands from pulling apart the bike and the engine.

"I'll get dis back in, an' scrub up, an' den we can go."

"Thanks," Rogue said, leaning forward carefully to kiss his cheek.

* * *

Remy ran his thumb in lazy circles across the back of Rogue's gloved hand as the latest biologist, a bio-engineer, droned on about how he came to be a bioengineer, and what his work involved – something to do with engineering e-coli bacteria to change colors, Remy wasn't paying close enough attention to be sure. Rogue had her head propped up with her other hand, and looked about ready to fall asleep.

There had been about one interesting biologist in the five that had come to talk thus far, and the others seemed to, as they began to talk, forget that they were addressing students rather than colleagues who understood the technical stuff they were getting so excited about. The first man, the interesting one, had actually engaged them and spoke in an understandable way, explaining what he did and what it meant.

Remy wasn't surprised she'd been bored, if the physicists had been anything like these guys. He thought the idea behind the "Meet a….." day was good, but they should have gotten better people.

Remy glanced around the room. Bobby, Dani, Kitty, and the others –they'd come on their own, whereas he and Rogue had come on his motorcycle – were all in varying states of reclining in their chairs, and it seemed Bobby had actually fallen asleep.

They were in the back of the lecture hall, which contained an easy two-hundred people and could hold likely a hundred more. Most of the lights were out, aside from where the biologists were speaking in the center of the room, so it wasn't really noticeable if they did drift off.

Remy leaned forward slightly, puffing a breath of air at the side of Rogue's neck, causing her eyes to snap open from nearly falling shut. She shot him a dirty look, and he grinned.

"Hey now, _Chére_, how come I'm de only one here dat isn't in dis class, but I'm de only one not half asleep?" He whispered. "Can't leave me t'be tortured on my own – you gotta share it too."

A small smile flashed on her face, and she leaned closer in the plastic chair at the long table they sat at. "You're evil."

"_Oui_." He said simply, squeezing her hand.

He let go of her hand to slide his arm around the back of her chair, and sighed with relief as the man finished his life's history, to a smattering of applause. "How many more?" He whispered.

"Ah think there's supposed to be one more," Rogue said.

"Hopefully he's not another socially awkward sixty year-ol' virgin like de last few," Remy said, and Rogue had to smother a giggle in the side of his neck.

He automatically, like it had become second nature, slid a hand quickly across hers before the magenta glow of his powers manifested in the dark hall.

The biology professor stood up as the man left the stage, and took up his microphone. "Alright you guys, thanks for your attention – we've got one more speaker, and he's a bit of a surprise. I wasn't sure until this morning if he'd be able to come and speak to you. He's become rather well known in the fields of Evolutionary Biology and Evolutionary Genetics in recent years, and I'm sure most of you have heard of him."

"Please give a warm welcome to Doctor Nathaniel Essex."

There were a number of exclamations of surprise through the hall, and then a resounding applause broke out. Remy straightened up in his seat, his interest piqued. "Guess I got m'wish," he muttered to Rogue.

A tall, slender man walked out onto the lit center platform of the room, and raised his hand, smiling, and nodding in thanks to the greeting. He had long jet-black hair held back in a ponytail, and rather pale skin, and his features were sharp, angular; a black goatee also adorned his face, giving him a sort of mix in looks between a hippie and a bit of a stereotypical mad scientist.

"Thank you," he said, his voice low and rich, with a hint of a British accent. "I'm glad I could make it here today – I enjoy talking to young men and women like yourselves, and hope my presentation today helps you decide what you'd like to do with your lives."

"I grew up in a small town – not much bigger than this one," he said, gesturing around, "called Wadhurst, over in England."

"My father was a barber, and my mother was a school-teacher, and they wanted me to become an engineer. Now, I found engineering to be interesting, and so I went along with it, and went off to Nottingham University."

"I'd already planned out all of my years, what courses I would take, to become a mechanical engineer. In my first year, I had to take a prerequisite biology class, much like this one. Our teacher was an intriguing man, very enthusiastic about his vocation."

"Our first assignment was to read a book over the first month of class – Charles Darwin's _On The Origin Of Species_. As I began to read it, I became fascinated with it – in fact, I think I had completed the book by the end of the next day, and went on to read his other books."

"I found his works and theories to be quite interesting – to imagine he figured all of that out simply by careful observation and investigation years before we even knew genes existed, and managed to turn out mostly correct on all of it."

"Toward the end of the class, our teacher explained the ways in which all that we had slowly learned during the course could be and were applied in the present. Our flu vaccines, engineered based upon the predicted evolution of the major viruses causing the flu. Engineering of bacteria to do wondrous things."

"That one class changed all of my plans for college, and I transferred over to the Biology department, and began my studies in Evolutionary Biology. I received my Bachelor's degree in three years, and continued another year to achieve a Master's in Genetics."

"I came to the States after that, and proceeded to work on a doctorate in Evolutionary Genetics, once it became clear it would be a strong field to be in as mutants began to appear throughout the world. I quite liked it here, and as of last year I am a US Citizen."

"And all of this, simply because of a single book, written in the 1800s. I hope each of you finds a similar inspiration that leads you down the path to your future with something that you enjoy. It needn't be Biology, although I love to see new young ones enter the field – whatever it is you find you enjoy, go for it, and don't let anything stop you."

"Now, your teacher asked that I describe some of my work. I hope I won't bore you with it, and I'll try to keep it brief. Aside from my work on the various popular science books I've published, and my debates with my esteemed colleagues – in fact I believe this town is home to one of them, Professor Charles Xavier, with whom I've had the my most intriguing debates – the majority of my work is with mutant and baseline human genetics, although I have dabbled in the genetics of Neanderthals several times in the past."

* * *

"Mm, this is good, Remy," Rogue said as she tasted her spoonful of mint-fudge ice cream. "Try some." She scooped another spoonful, and moved it over for him to have a taste.

They'd each chosen a different flavor, and were sharing their cups at a small table in the back of the ice cream parlor.

Remy nodded, and offered her a spoonful of his triple chocolate ice cream.

Rogue smiled, and slowly took the spoonful into her mouth. "Ah could eat ice cream all day," she said dreamily.

She looked down at her own cup, twirling her spoon absently in it. "Ah'm glad yah came, Remy. This's th'best part, but thank yah for sittin' through that with me."

"Y'welcome," Remy said, his hand moving out to clasp her free one. "It was alright. 'Least dere were two people dat were interestin'. Essex did sorta give me a weird feelin' though, afterward, when he found out we knew de Professor. I think he knows we're mutants," Remy said, lowering his voice.

After the class had ended, Essex had walked over to where they sat, and introduced himself personally, explaining the teacher had informed him they were Charles' students.

He'd looked over them with an almost clinical interest, as if he was looking at a set of lab rats. He'd given a look to Remy that made him feel like Essex was mentally examining and dissecting his brain. He definitely knew something – perhaps Xavier had told him the truth about him being a mutant?

Or it could just be the bit of mad scientist in most scientists that made it seem that way. He decided he'd mention Essex to Xavier and see where it went from there.

Rogue chewed on her lower lip, and nodded slightly. "Maybe he knows. At least he didn't put us to sleep."

Remy nodded. "Liked his message – find what you want to do an' do it." He squeezed her hand. "You still want t'be a nurse?"

Rogue sighed slightly, and nodded. "Yeah. Ah know it'll be a lot of work, but Ah like it, what little Ah've done with Annie. Yah think Ah should?"

Remy smiled. "_Oui_, if it's what you want, you got my support, _Chére_. I'll be dere de whole way."

Rogue blushed slightly, recalling her recent thoughts of their relationship. "Yah sure?" She asked, and the slight tremble in her voice gave away her thoughts of Remy leaving her like Bobby had.

"I'm sure. I'm here 'till you tell me to get lost. An' I hope dat's never."

She smiled shyly. "Ah hope so too."

* * *

Remy snapped awake from his sleep later that night when a small hand gave his arm a shake. He squinted at the clock which read a little after one in the morning, and then at the shadowy room, and found Sarah standing next to his bed. He sat up, alarmed, when he saw glistening tears on her cheeks.

"_Petite_? What is it –what's wrong? You have a nightmare?" he asked, sitting up.

She shook her head. "Remy, my legs really hurt, and I can't fall asleep because they hurt so bad."

"C'mere," he said, and she moved gingerly to sit on the bed next to him. "Where's it hurt?"

"Both legs, behind my knees, an' on my shins, an' even up here," she said, patting her thigh. "Feels worse than when my bone growths are gettin' bigger."

He moved his hand lightly across her shin, and frowned. "I'm sure it's nothing, _petite_. Too much runnin' outside today. But we can go talk t'Annie if y'want."

She nodded slightly, and buried her head against his chest. "Can we? It's pretty late though."

"Sure, _petite_, Annie won't mind." He said, grabbing her hand. "She's a few doors down, 'can you walk okay?"

She nodded, and stood up with him, and followed him out the door. He walked down the hall, and stopped three doors down, and knocked softly. He waited close to a minute and knocked softly again, and moments later Annie opened the door, a sleepy expression on her face.

"What's wrong?" She asked, blinking the sleep from her eyes.

"Sorry for wakin' you up, but Sarah's legs are hurtin' her, an' she can't get t'sleep. Was hopin' y'could check her out quick t'make sure it's nothin' serious."

"Uh- yeah, sure," she said, pressing the heel of her hand to her forehead for a moment. "Let's go down to my office and I'll give you a look," she said, giving Sarah a smile, which she returned.

They went down by way of the elevator, and Annie had Sarah sit on one of the examining tables. She asked her a series of questions about the pain, its intensity, and exactly where it hurt. Then she proceeded to carefully feel along Sarah's legs with her hands, trying to find any obvious fractures in bones or pulled muscles, and checked to make sure her joints were not swollen.

Finally she smiled, and sat back on the wheeled chair next to Sarah. "I don't think there's anything to worry about, Sarah. You've got what we call 'growing pains'. You're right around the age where you start getting the last big growth spurts, and I think you've started yours."

"Your bones and everything start growing, and sometimes it takes a while for all the muscles and tendons to catch up, and since you're an active kid, they get stressed even more from your running and horseback riding, and begin to ache at night."

Sarah reached up and brushed back a strand of her hair that had fallen and stuck to the drying tear track on her cheek. "So I'm okay?"

Annie smiled and stood up, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You're fine. Just getting taller. I'll get you some Advil for the pain so you can sleep. This might last a few days, but it will be over with soon enough."

Annie moved over to the locked cabinet in which she kept the various medicines she found herself giving out to her patients, the most common being her ibuprofen.

Annie pulled out a small bottle, and handed it to Remy. "One tablet, every four to six hours while she had pain." She said, only releasing her grip on it when he nodded.

"You go take that, and get some sleep, alright Sarah?"

Sarah nodded, and smiled slightly. "Thanks Annie."

"You're welcome." Annie replied, and moved over to her office to switch out the lights as they left.

Remy and Sarah stopped briefly for a glass of cold water in the kitchen so she could take an Advil, and then made their way back up to their rooms.

Sarah looked up at Remy as they stood by her door. "Can you sit with me 'till I fall asleep?"

Remy nodded. "Yeah, Sarah."

He followed her into the room, and after she'd slipped under the covers, he sat on the bed next to her, and began to stroke her forehead soothingly. "Glad you're alrigh', _petite_."

She smiled. "Me too. Thanks for takin' care of me."

A moment of silence passed, and she spoke again. "Remy?"

"Yeah _petite_?"

"I'm glad it was you that saved me from the tunnels. If it was anyone else I wouldn't be as happy as I am now," she said with a shy smile.

Remy's heart clenched. "I'm glad it was too. You've changed m'life, _petite_. I'd prob'ly still be an' ol' thief, an' I'd never've met you or Rogue."

She smiled, turning her head to kiss his cheek, and then closed her eyes. The pain seemed to already be leaving her mind, as within several minutes she'd fallen asleep.

Remy slowly sat up, careful not to wake her, and brushed his hand over her forehead one last time, looking guiltily down at her face. He'd mentioned it to Rogue, and she'd reassured him, but he really needed to tell her the truth about the tunnels.

His guilt over not telling her everything was growing day by day, and it was reaching a point where he could no longer bear it. He set his jaw – this weekend, he decided. Neither would have classes, and there would be plenty of time for him to sit down in a quiet place with her and tell her everything.

"_Bonne nuit, petite. Je suis navré."_ He said softly, tucking the blankets around her body better, before slowly moving out of the room and back to his own.

* * *

"Are you ready for this?" Kitty asked as Dani placed one of her long legs out in front of her and beginning a series of stretches.

Dani smiled nervously. "Yeah, I think so. First training session with the rest you guys instead of just Logan – I get the feeling that he is going to make it hard for us."

"That's a given," Kitty said with a smile, zipping up the front of her leather X-Men suit, before grabbing a small scrunchie and pulling her hair back into a ponytail.

"You doin' alright?" Dani asked, looking over to her.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I…." She trailed off and sighed. "Bobby told you, didn't he."

Dani gave her a tentative smile. "Actually he told Sam, and I pried it out of _him_. I'm sorry, but Jubes wasn't talking and that's what _really_ got me worried about you. It's.. how are you handling it?"

Kitty leaned her elbows against her knees, shaking her head. "God he's a bigger mouth than Jubes," she muttered, but she didn't really blame him – she'd hurt him and hadn't handled the breakup well in her opinion.

She looked up to where Dani stood stretching. "I'm... I'm dealing. My parents… they've already signed the divorce papers, so there's not much to be done about it. I'm doing a lot better than I was when I found out though. Sorry I didn't tell you, I just… back home in high school if that sort of thing got out, everyone would be whispering about you and giving you looks, and I didn't want that. I just needed time."

Dani nodded, and straightened up slightly before bending down to pat Kitty's knee. "I understand. You ever wanna talk, I'm a good listener."

Kitty nodded and stood up. "I know. I'll keep that in mind. But… we better head down – Logan'll crank up the difficulty if anyone is late."

Dani's eyes widened. "Let's get down there then."

* * *

Logan's lips curled into a snarl as he leapt down onto two unsuspecting men, smashing their heads together with a large amount of force and rendering them unconscious. He turned back and gestured for the others to follow him down the narrow alleyway.

They'd been split into three different groups – Ororo, Logan, and Remy being team leaders – and they'd drawn from a hat to determine their team. It was something Logan felt they'd likely do for a while, to bring everyone up to speed and get them used to serving on a team with everyone else.

Bobby slid down the side of the building on a patch of ice he'd created, and Colossus and Jubilee moved around from behind the corner to join him.

Logan had designed the setting to resemble a town he'd seen flashes images of in dreams that Xavier believed were bits of memories. He was pretty sure it was in Germany from the architecture, and fairly sure it had been around for centuries given the myriad stone structures. It made him think of some sort of open-air castle.

Charles had, of course, changed areas, a boarded up door here, a collapsed ceiling there, but Logan knew the place rather well having designed the program.

Each team had been tasked with retrieving a separate microchip – in the scenario they were under heavy guard in three locations in the city and were a part of a new weapons system being developed by a foreign terrorist group that had hired the mercenary guard.

Logan, in the lead, reached a street corner, and crouched down, peeking his head around. He pulled it back and heard the ping of a ricocheting gunshot against the stone where his head had been.

"We found it. There's at least ten of 'em, and we have to move fast." He said in a hurried whisper to the others.

"Jubes, blind 'em good, Pete and I will take out the rest – Bobby, you slip around back and up into the tower."

The three nodded, all quiet.

"Now!" Logan said, and in moments Jubilee was diving around the corner, rolling along the ground. Blindingly bright fireworks erupted from her fingers, and Logan found himself having to blink away spots himself.

There were shouts of pain and confusion from the mercenaries, and they began firing randomly, but Jubilee had already rolled behind a parked car for cover. Piotr shifted into his metal state, and he and Logan charged around the corner. Piotr's armored skin sparked as several random rounds ricocheted off of him, and Logan grunted when one slugged him in the arm.

In moments they were upon the mercenaries, Pete knocking them to the ground with heavy blows as Logan threaded through the group, slashing their weapons and taking care of those who had been mostly turned away from Jubilee's fireworks show and only partially blinded.

Piotr released the shirt of the final mercenary, letting him drop senselessly to the ground. "C'mon out Jubes," Logan said, as Bobby slid down the stairs of the nearby building, a triumphant look on his face at the microchip grasped in his hand.

The next moment Logan found himself spinning toward a wall, picked up by an invisible force, and nearly blacked out when he slammed face-first into it. He groaned, and struggled to pick himself up, but found himself pulled into the air by the same force.

A figure slowly moved into view down the street, laughing richly. "Really, Logan, did you think it would be that simple?" Magneto asked as he strode toward him.

"Aw hell, Chuck," Logan muttered.

Xavier had apparently decided the scenario wasn't challenging enough, and needed enough curveballs thrown in to keep even Logan on his toes.

"Get down!" Logan shouted as the cars, streetlights, and various other metal objects around the street rose into the air around the four X-Men.

* * *

Ororo was having trouble of her own. She dove to the side as a long gout of flame blasted past her face when she dove into a small side alleyway. They'd found the location of their chip, and started to fight the people guarding it, until the simulation threw in John.

It wasn't the John she'd known from the Institute, either – it was the John she'd seen a glimpse of that night at Alcatraz, hurling flaming cars, in full control of his abilities. The flame near her suddenly morphed into a snake, and coiled up ready to strike. She breathed a sigh of relief, knowing he could only control the flames while he could see them, and that meant he'd have to come closer to see into her alley.

She gritted her teeth, and then saw Sam rocket through the group of mercenaries still in sight, the orange-yellow glow of his blast field surrounding him as he sped mere feet from the ground. The mercenaries were tossed around like bowling pins, and the fiery snake turned its attention from the alleyway and sped off after Sam.

She brought her hand up to her ear to the comlink, switching to a different channel. "Logan? What's your status?"

"Little busy right now!" He said, and she heard a loud rending of metal, almost like a car collision.

"We'll have ours soon, I'll check in then," she said – obviously they'd run into a surprise as well.

She switched channels again. "Remy?"

"_Ma soeur," _he whispered back, "Got maybe five minutes 'till we get de chip, but got t'be quiet right now."

"Good, let me know when you get it," she said, automatically lowering her voice as if it made a difference on his end.

Ororo glanced back at Sam flying wildly, keeping way from the flame. She was limited in the exercise to only her wind – she couldn't exactly call up a thunderstorm in the Danger Room without risking frying the electronics – as well as the people in the room – and the same went for rain, which was unfortunately something that would have come in handy right about now.

Kitty suddenly phased through the wall next to her, gasping for breath. "The ones that were following us were down, Storm – what next?"

Ororo's eyes narrowed, and she heard the distinctive *BAMF* of Kurt's teleportation. Suddenly he appeared on a car near Sam, and the fire changed direction toward him, and he quickly led it on a wild chase across the open courtyard.

"You take out John," she finally said. "You're the only one that can't be hurt by his flames. I'll take care of the rest."

Kitty puffed out a breath, blowing back a strand of hair that had escaped her ponytail. "On it," she said, dashing around the corner.

"Kurt!" Ororo shouted as he teleported on a dumpster near her.

He snapped his head around to look at her as the fire changed direction yet again, presumable after Kitty. Kurt grinned, and teleported over to her. He grabbed her arm, and she felt the squeezing, stomach-turning-inside-out sensation she'd felt at Alkali Lake, and she found herself standing on the roof of the nearby building, waving at a cloud of sulfur-smelling smoke.

"Thanks," she said. "Let's go." She moved to the edge of the roof, gripping it, and swinging her body downward to give her momentum to break through the window beneath her.

She tumbled in, catching herself, and was reminded of her months with Remy without her memories, in which they'd done a number of heists.

A quick blast of wind knocked two surprised guards against the wall hard enough to knock them out, and she walked over to a large leather briefcase, hearing Kurt land behind her.

She opened the latches, and found herself staring at a large computer chip resting in an indentation of the foam interior.

As she grabbed it, there was a glint of light to her left, and she flinched back, just missing a knife thrust by a guard – one of the two she'd thrown against the wall had apparently not been as unconscious as she thought.

A sharp snapping sound, like that of a whip, cracked through the air, and the man was suddenly holding his hand, the knife quivering in the bedpost. Kurt grabbed it, and tossed it out the window before reaching out with a wince to massage his tail – the whip she'd heard.

She gave him a weak smile. "Thanks."

"_Ja_. Let's get this out of here _und_ help the others," he said, shoving the injured man onto his back.

"Alright," Ororo breathed, moving to look out the window. She saw Kitty and Sam standing over the unconscious form of John.

Kurt grabbed her arm, and another teleport left her staring somewhat disjointedly at Sam and Kitty in front of her.

"We have the chip," she said, showing it to the two. "Let's find Logan – it sounded like they needed the most help."

* * *

Remy glanced down over the top of the building he was on the roof of, and saw several unsuspecting mercenaries patrolling the streets. He glanced over at the large, blue furred man next to him.

"Y'sure you're alright wit' dis? Not bein' team leader? You been an X-man back when Xavier first started it," Remy said quietly.

Hank shook his head, glancing at the concentration of men below them. "You seem quite capable, my boy. Perhaps you can teach an old dog like me new tricks. Besides – I'm a doctor, not a team leader."

Remy groaned and shook his head. "Shoulda known dat line was comin' from you, McCoy."

Hank smiled slightly. "Yes, well, I find that even the most serious mission needs some humor. Shall we?" He asked, gesturing at the street below.

"Yeah." Remy said, and moments later they had both leapt from the two-story building, landing while dealing out blows with bruising force to the mercenaries they'd dropped down behind. A sharp snap to the head with Remy's bo staff took out the third before he'd even realized what happened.

Remy thumbed his earpiece to his own team's channel. "You _femme_s got it scoped out yet? We took care of de stragglers."

"Yeah," Rogue's voice came quietly over the earpiece. "There's a _lot_ of guards, but Ah think we'll be able to take them."

"We'll be right dere."

He and Hank sprinted quietly down the road, turning at several corners and thankfully running into no one else until they came to a building Remy had sent the girls to.

Remy slid through the broken doorway, and moved through the house to where Rogue and Dani stood waiting, looking occasionally out the dusty windows. Remy moved up next to them, his fingers brushing against Rogue's for a moment, and he peered out the window.

"Okay. We go out dat door and hit dem from behind. _Chére_, you're our powerhouse, you take de lead. Dani – you're watchin' our backs – anyone tries to attack us, you take dem out. Hank an I will go for de briefcase. Got it?"

He smiled grimly as they nodded. "Good. After you, _Chére,_" he said gesturing at the boarded up door.

"Good luck," she whispered as she moved past him. She took a few steps back, and then moved forward, slamming her shoulder into the door. The wood splintered, and the door itself was launched across the street, inadvertently taking down two of the mercs that stood unsuspecting in its flight path.

The other's cried out in surprise and whirled to face their attacker, pulling their guns. Rogue allowed herself to float up several inches off the ground, and furrowed her brow, focusing on the bit of practice she'd managed outside the mansion days before, and in seconds she was plowing through the first group – unknowingly almost exactly like Sam had been.

Remy and Hank dashed out, followed by Dani, and they followed in Rogue's wake, taking on any who had missed the brunt of her attack. Remy whirled, his bo staff glinting as it arced through the air almost faster than the eye could see, striking several blows to men trying to get up and train their weapons on them.

Dani's leg swept out next to him, and a man he'd not noticed fell to the ground, clutching his thigh. Remy grinned with pride – she'd used the _savate_ kick he'd taught her, and used it to quite good effect.

"Good kick," he said, swinging his own foot into the groaning man's head.

Hank bounded forward and leapt, spinning in an acrobatic somersault before he landed heavily on two men who'd started firing wildly.

"Shit she's fast," Remy muttered as he sprinted to catch up with Rogue who was taking several bullet hits as she sped toward the next group.

In minutes the numbers were cut by two thirds, and those surviving had taken up behind cover, firing when they peeked over. Remy pulled out a handful of cards, charged them, and tossed them in a spread at the two cars most of the group had taken shelter behind.

One car exploded, knocking the men several feet back, and the other flipped into the air, and the men had to run to avoid being crushed by it when it tumbled back to the ground.

A sudden flash of movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention and he whirled to see another force of mercenaries appear around the corner behind them.

"Dani – hit dem!" He shouted.

"Let this work," she silently prayed, stretching her hands out.

Several manifestations of growling wolves appeared in front of the mercenaries, stalking toward them.

Since they weren't living humans she couldn't draw on their fears so she had done what she had when Remy had asked her to the previous weekend.

Xavier had accounted for that fact in the design behind the Danger Room, and it reacted to her manifestation of images by having the mercenaries react as if she _had_ shown them their worst fears.

Several ran screaming, others rolled on the ground, trying to bat away imaginary creatures, and still others simply froze, their guns dropping from their limp hands.

Remy grinned, and turned his attention back to the others. Rogue had been busy, cleaning up the others, and Hank was scaling the outside of the building where the briefcase was held.

"Look out!" Dani suddenly yelled.

He'd been standing near one of the men he'd taken out earlier, and he had stood up, swinging the butt of his gun at Remy.

Remy jerked his head to the side, and swept his leg up in a kick at the man. Remy managed to take a glancing blow, but it still left his vision spinning. His kick connected, snapping the man's head back and taking him to the ground.

Remy stumbled back, barely keeping his balance, and brought a hand up to his ringing head. He froze when he heard a snarling roar he'd not heard for years – one that he would always remember.

He blinked, trying to clear his vision, and looked in the direction of the noise. A tall, muscled man with a mane of brown hair falling across his shoulders crouched in a ready stance near the building the chip was in. His eyes were nearly black, long claw-like fingernails extended from his hands, and a feral grin showed off his sharp, cat-like teeth.

"Sabretooth," Remy whispered, his fists clenching at his sides as rage bubbled up inside him.

His vision turned red, and he charged at the feral man, the tip of his bo staff glowing brightly.

"Bastard!" He shouted, and the charge released from his staff as it struck the ground near Sabretooth, blasting the surprised mutant backward.

Sabretooth tumbled into a crouch, and had to leap back as several more exploding swings of the bo staff struck near him, more power in each one.

The last knocked him on his back, and Remy was on him in an instant, slamming heavy blows into his jaw, shouts of rage escaping his lips.

Remy gripped one hand tightly around the heavily bleeding mutant's neck, closing his airway, and his other hand slammed repeatedly into his face, not caring or really even realizing that it was a hologram and that he was simply beating a padded robot provided by the Danger Room.

Rogue gasped when she heard the first explosion, and Remy's shout, and had spun around to see Remy viciously attack the man that had been with Magneto at Liberty Island.

"Remy!" She said, running over to him as he beat the hologram senseless. "Remy, stop," she pleaded, trying to grab his arm, but he jerked it away with a wild snarl, slamming his fist down again.

"Professor," she begged aloud – Remy was beyond reason, and that frightened her. It was like the times she'd witnessed Logan's berserker rage – and she didn't know what to do.

"Session end," Xavier's voice snapped over the intercom, and the holographic world around them disappeared.

Remy pounded the now visible robot once more, and she grabbed him around the waist, jerking him away from it – a relatively simple task given her strength.

Remy struggled in her grip, but she kept a firm hold on him. "Shhh…" she whispered into his ear. "He's gone. It isn't real, Remy. Please, stop."

The choked sob that ended her plea seemed to snap him out of it, and he stopped struggling, and stared silently at the robot on the ground. The plastic casing on its head was cracked and dented, nearly caved in – and he panted heavily, his fists still clenched.

Rogue slowly released her hold on him, and started to move around to his front. "Remy, are you alright?"

Remy raised a hand, and looked away. "Not right now,_ Chére_," he said, his voice emotionless.

He turned away, and strode quickly to the exit of the Danger Room, ignoring the somewhat shocked looks of Dani and the other teens, as well as the grim, knowing looks from Hank and Logan, and especially the pleading glance Ororo sent him.

Rogue stared helplessly after him, and sank to her knees on the floor.

Ororo hurried over next to her, and knelt beside her, placing her arm around her shoulder. "What happened?" Ororo asked in a low voice.

Rogue shook her head. "Ah- Ah don't know. We were fightin', an' then a simulation of Sabretooth showed up t'stop us, and Remy went wild. Ah've never seen him like that. It was like he was tryin' t'kill him."

Ororo grimaced. "I know I wouldn't have reacted well," she said softly, "but I've had the displeasure of meeting him. Remy never mentioned him to me, but from his reaction I'd guess he's had some unpleasant experiences with him."

"Yeah," Logan said quietly next to them. "I c'n still smell the rage. Whatever the hairy nutjob did, it did a real number on the kid."

Ororo helped Rogue to her feet, and they slowly made their way up to the control room, where the others had gone and where the Professor had been supervising the session.

Rogue looked around the room, as if hoping Remy would have stopped there to talk with Xavier.

Xavier seemed to read her mind – or rather, given his powers likely did read that thought – and smiled reassuringly at her. "Remy just left the garage – he's taking his bike out for a while. He stopped to apologize for ruining the session for everyone, and let me know where he was going so you wouldn't worry."

Ororo placed a comforting hand on Rogue's shoulder. "He'll be back, he just needs to clear his head."

Charles gestured at the door to the War Room. "I think we'll forego the long review of the session today. I'd deliberately kept the teams from contacting people that might cause such a reaction – that's why Logan's group got Magneto, Ororo's group faced John," he said looking knowingly toward Rogue and Bobby, "and Remy's group got Sabretooth. I wish I had known…"

He shook his head. "Overall, I was pleased with all of you – especially you three," Charles said, nodding at Dani, Sam, and Jubilee.

"You've come a long way, and have shown you are capable of working readily with others. I'd like to officially invite you on as probationary team members."

The now-former trainees broke into grins, and Dani looked at him with a hint of surprise in her eyes. "But – I thought you said we had to go through tests…."

Charles smiled. "This _was_ your test. I find it often best to not tell when it will be, as it doesn't give you a chance to prepare, and gives me a true gauge on your abilities and teamwork. And despite Mister LeBeau's thought that he ruined the exercise, I'd call it a successful run – you all had your microchips, and all of you were close to being able to leave."

A smile came to Rogue's face, despite her worries about Remy, and she pulled the three new X-Men into hugs. "Congratulations, yah guys. Welcome t'the team."

They thanked her, and found themselves surrounded by the others, being congratulated by them as well. Rogue turned to look at the elevator, a worried frown slowly taking the place of her smile. She'd have to find Sarah and let her know, so she wouldn't worry about Remy, she thought to herself.

Ororo moved next to her and squeezed her arm comfortingly. "He'll be fine. I've seen him like this a few times myself. He doesn't want you or anyone else to see him like that." She said, smiling ruefully. "He'll be back by tonight, and probably feel guilty for brushing you away."

Rogue closed her eyes for a moment, and sighed slightly. "Thanks," she said quietly. "Ah think Ah needed t'hear that." She said, and felt a bit of tension leave her body, and the cheerfulness of the others helped ease her mind.

* * *

Remy tilted his head back slightly as he took another long sip from the bottle of beer he held. It was his fourth of the six-pack of bottles he'd brought back with him to the mansion.

He'd spent much of the rest of the day out on his motorcycle, and walking aimlessly around the state park he'd taken Rogue to the previous week. He'd returned late, nearly midnight, and had entered quietly. He'd slipped out onto the roof with his six-pack, and been up there since.

His throat tightened when he saw a pair of hands grasp the roof nearby but instead of Rogue, who he'd expected, he saw Jean's mop of red hair appear over the gutter.

She pulled herself up, and walked slowly over to him. "Wondered who it was up here. I heard you but couldn't sense you. Mind if I sit with you?" She asked.

"_Non_, go ahead, Jeannie."

She carefully lowered herself on the roof and sat next to him.

"Beer?" He asked, grabbing one of the last two bottles and proffering it to her. "It's a porter, so it's pretty dark, if y'like 'em dark.

"Uh… sure," Jean said, giving him a hesitant smile. "Never tried one before. I've only had a few cans of the light stuff when Scott… when we went camping a year back."

Remy nodded, and she took the bottle. He kept his hand there, and ran a finger around the rim of the bottle cap. It glowed a very faint magenta, and there was sudden pop as the charge he'd placed there bent the crimped metal of the cap, and she popped it off easily.

"Must be handy having your own built in can-opener," she said.

Remy laughed. "Believe me, it don' come easy. Went through a dozen or so of dese six packs b'fore I got it down wit'out crackin' de glass or blowin' up de bottle."

Jean brought the bottle up to her lips, and took a large sip. She made a face, and swallowed it down. She shook her head, and handed the bottle back to him. "Better than the light stuff, but I guess I'm just not a beer girl. Gimme a margarita or tequila sunrise over that any day."

Remy smiled. "Fair 'nough. Sometimes it can be an acquired taste." He finished the last mouthful of his other bottle, and then sipped from the one she'd rejected.

Jean curled her legs inward, bringing her knees up to rest her chin on. She glanced over at him curiously. "Hey, d'you know where Logan is?"

Remy's brow furrowed, and then he remembered what Ororo had told him that morning.

He glanced warily at Jean. "He's… _out_. With Stormy."

A sad smile crossed her face. "Oh. On a date…."

Remy nodded. "Sorry-"

She shook her head. "I'm not mad. I'm… actually kind of glad in a way. I know Logan was waiting for me and everything, but like I told him, I… I'm just not ready. I'm not sure if I ever will be. So… I'm glad, if they're happy together. Ororo deserves it. Logan too."

She glanced over at him. "You know, seeing you up here's made me realize how much of a hermit I've become. I think I've seen you once, in the weeks I've been here, and that was the day I woke up." She said, with a disbelieving laugh. "It's good to see you again, Remy."

Remy grinned. "Good t'see you too, Jeannie. I don' blame you though. Someone tryin' to take over my mind? I'd be fightin' wit' ev'rythin' I got and lockin' myself away too. How… how's it comin' wit' de phoenix thing?"

Jean sighed. "Actually pretty decent the last week or so. I think Charles and I have made a lot of progress. Maybe you'll start seeing more of me around the mansion," she said with a small smile.

"Good," Remy said, grinning. "Sure everyone else'd like dat too."

Remy drained the rest of the bottle in one long gulp, and tossed it into the cardboard container he'd bought it in. He pulled out the sixth bottle, and popped the cap off with another burst of kinetic charge.

Jean's eyebrows rose when she looked at the empty bottles. "That's quite a bit of alcohol."

Remy shrugged. "Not for me. My body metabolizes it too damn fast. Need at least a six pack of 8 percent to get me close to buzzin'." He said.

Jean nodded in understanding. "To power your abilities."

Remy nodded. "Yep. Takes a lot of energy. I'm hungry all de time, too."

Several minutes of silence passed as Remy slowly savored the last beer, and Jean stared out into the darkness of the mansion grounds.

"So," Jean began quietly, "you and Rogue, huh?"

Remy grinned. "Yeah, me an' Rogue. Best girl I ever met. Don' know what I'd do without her."

"Well, that's good, I guess. I… I know she was dating Bobby before. Kind of figured it wouldn't end up working out – they just didn't seem right for each other."

Remy grimaced. "He's not a bad kid, but I think he needed a wakeup call. Rogue caught him lockin' lips wit' Kitty."

Jean's eyes widened. "Oh! She can't have taken that well, with her issues with her powers."

Remy shook his head. "She almost took de cure. Decided at de last minute dat dere's more in de world den just Bobby Drake." He smiled fondly. "Been tough, gettin' her self esteem higher than it was, 'specially wit' dat, but she's startin' t'get stronger, more sure of herself. More expressive, wit' me at least, outta de shell her powers put her in."

He sighed. "Guess it wasn' exactly de best move today pushin' her away an' leavin' for most of de day," he muttered.

At Jean's curious look, he reluctantly explained. "In de Danger Room today, I lost it. Saw someone from m'past, an' tried t'kill a hologram. Den I jus' left – she was tryin' t'make sure I was alright, but I couldn' deal wit' it den."

Jean nodded, and then placed a hand on his shoulder as she stood up from her spot on the roof. "Yeah, maybe not so good. Sounds like you should clear the air – apologize to her. Maybe she's still awake…."

Remy stood slowly as well, draining the final sip from the bottle. "Y'right. Might as well not wait. Thanks for listenin', Jeannie."

Jean smiled, and stepped back to allow him to stoop down and collect the empty bottles. "It's no trouble. It's… I actually forgot how nice it can be to talk to someone besides yourself in your own mind. See you around, Remy."

"Hope so – good talkin' again, Jeannie."

He balanced the bottles in the box, and slowly walked toward his balcony – he'd clean up, brush his teeth, and see if Rogue was still awake. Sarah too, for that matter – he hoped she'd not been too worried either.

* * *

Ororo smiled over her glass as Logan walked back from the bartender, two new drinks in hand. She had to admit she'd been rather skeptical when his idea for a 'date' was to come to Harry's Bar and Grill in downtown North Salem, which was more bar than grill.

He'd talked her into giving it a try, and she was glad she had. While it wasn't the most romantic place to go on a date, they'd found a small table in the back of the small dining area that was rather secluded, and she was actually having a lot of fun with Logan.

"Alright, here y'go," Logan said, setting down another martini in front of her, and twisted his mug of home-brewed beer around in his hands.

"So – how about a game or two of pool?" Logan asked, nodding over to one of the open pool tables.

Ororo glanced over to the scuffed up table, and shrugged. "Sure. But I'll warn you I'm not really that great."

Logan grinned. "Don't worry about it. I'll go easy on ya." He said as she stood up next to him.

She raised an eyebrow and elbowed him in the gut, and he led her, laughing, over to the table and picked up the cue stick.

They played through their first game relatively quickly, and while Ororo knocked in some decent shots, Logan ended up winning.

He cajoled her into playing another game. "You're not 'fraid of losin' again, are ya?" He said.

She rather firmly passed him his cue stick once he racked all the balls and rolled the cue ball to the other side of the table. "You break. Loser teaches the other's classes next week."

"You're on," Logan said. He bent over the table, and sent the cueball down the table, knocking apart the pyramid of billiard balls. One of them made it into the corner pocket.

"Alright, I'm solids." He said, and moved to shoot again, but just missed making it into a side pocket.

Ororo smiled, and set up to shoot the cue ball. She struck it, and it slammed into a group of four colored balls, each of which flew across the table into separate pockets.

She looked innocently up at Logan who was looking at her with his jaw loosely hanging down, shocked.

"You- you been hustlin' me?"

Ororo grinned devilishly. "Maybe. Guess that'll teach you to be so cocky." She said with a chuckle.

Logan shook his head in amazement as she swiftly cleared the table and sunk the 8-ball in a short manner, without him ever getting another shot. The solid thunk as the 8-ball sunk into the corner pocket she had called signified both the end of the game and the beginning of a coming week of teaching all of her classes.

"You – are devious," Logan said, scowling playfully at her.

She chuckled richly, and looped her arm through his. "Thank you. I learned how to play, and how to hustle poor dupes like you, from Remy."

Logan growled. "I'll hafta make him take the classes then." He muttered.

Ororo stopped and poked his chest, leaning up to kiss his cheek. "No, you won't. or I'll have to tell him how you got hustled."

Logan groaned, and leaned down to kiss her forehead. "Alright, darlin'. It's gettin' late. You wanna get outta this place?"

She nodded, and let him leave to pay up his tab. He returned several minutes later, and grabbed her hand. "Back to the mansion?"

"Yeah. But let's drive around a bit – enjoy the night?"

"Sure," he said, as they walked out the door of the bar into the cool air of the night.

* * *

Rogue woke up to a sweet, flowery smell, and realized she had something grasped in her hand. She lifted her head from where she lay on her side, and blinked her eyes open until the outside world came into focus.

She gasped when she realized she was holding a bouquet of purplish-red roses that were resting next to her head on the pillow. She reached into the plastic bag covering the stems, and pulled out the piece of white paper that had been tucked in amongst the dozen roses.

She unfolded it, and saw Remy's sloppy handwriting scrawled across it, and she realized he'd must have come back after she'd fallen asleep.

'_Désolé, Chére,' _was the simple message on the note.

She clutched the note to her chest, a tear escaping down her cheek. She smiled, and brought the flowers up to her nose, inhaling their scent.

"You're way too sweet, Remy LeBeau," she muttered as she set the flowers back down on the bed and stood up to get dressed.

She quickly pulled on a pair of jeans and a light t-shirt, and haphazardly made the bed. She grabbed the cup she kept near the bedside in case she wanted a drink of water, and walked to the bathroom to fill it up. She carried it back to the bedroom, set it on the nightstand, and carefully placed the stems of the bouquet into it.

She fixed up her hair, and almost laughed at her own expression, the silly smile that had splayed across her lips.

'_Well someone's nice and perky for seven in the morning,_' Carol's amused voice echoed through her head.

"Oh shush. Ah can't help it mah boyfriend is so romantic."

Carol laughed. '_I'm just teasin' you. He's quite a catch. Just remember I'll be here in your head, scolding you if you ever let him get away.'_

* * *

Rogue finished preparing herself for her Friday, and made her way downstairs. She was about to head to the kitchen, but she heard Sarah's voice from inside the TV room, and then heard Remy answer her.

She peeked her head into the room and saw the two of them sitting on the couch. Remy was holding up what looked like a set of hand-made flash cards.

He flipped the next one forward for her. "Chlorophyll…." She muttered, frowning in thought. "It's… it's the part of a plant that makes it a green color, an' it helps it make food usin' sunlight."

Remy grinned. "You got it, _petite_."

Sarah glanced over his shoulder and spotted Rogue in the doorway. "Rogue!" She said cheerfully, "Remy's helpin' me get ready for my science test today."

"That's great, sweetie," Rogue said – the final tests for most of the younger students started the week after next, and they were getting through their last sections this week, and that included testing on just the last section which differed from the comprehensive part of the last tests. It reminded her that her own finals were coming up just as quickly.

"Hey, _Chére_," Remy said, turning in his seat and looking warily at her, not sure if she was angry with him or not.

"G'mornin', Remy," Rogue said with a smile, and leaned down to kiss him soundly on the lips.

"Mornin'," Remy said a bit breathlessly at the unexpected greeting, and sighed in relief.

He turned to Sarah. "_Petite_, you're doin' great – why don' you keep practicin' on your own for a little bit – I gotta talk with' Rogue. Den I'll start makin' us breakfast, _hein_?"

Sarah nodded, and took the flashcards from him. "Okay, Remy."

Remy stood, and grabbed Rogue's hand, and they walked out into the hallway, and to the empty kitchen.

"Yah make those cards for her?" Rogue asked quietly.

Remy smiled. "_Oui_. Still remember when _Tante Mattie_ used to do dat for me an' Henri, so I figured it'd help her."

They entered the deserted kitchen and walked over to one of the tables. Remy pulled out her seat for her, and then sat down next to her. "So… you get de flowers?"

Rogue smiled sweetly. "Yes, that's what that kiss was for. Thank yah. You didn' need t'apologize – "

He shook his head and rested a fingertip on her lips. "_Non_, I did. Y'were jus' tryin' to help an' I gave you de cold shoulder. I'm sorry, _Chére_."

Rogue smiled, and kissed his cheek. "You're forgiven, sugah. As long as ya'll tell me what that was about."

"Kinda already did," Remy murmured.

She frowned, and then her eyes widened, Sabretooth's image matching up with the description of the man he'd told her about days before. "Paris?" She asked.

He nodded sadly. "He was de bastard dat killed Ginny, an' nearly killed Henri. I… I tol' you I didn' think I could keep from killin' him if I saw his face again."

"Ah'm sorry, Remy," she said, moving her hand up to grasp his forearm. "Th'professor – none of us knew…" she trailed off.

He shook his head. "S'alright, I know dere was no way of knowin'. Jus'…. Dat was de last person I expected to see again, an' we'd just talked about it, so it was really fresh in my heart – I flipped. Thanks for snappin' me out of it." He swallowed. "How – how d'you guys know him?"

Rogue looked at him hesitantly, and squeezed his arm. "We ran inta him when Ah first came here. In fact, he tossed a tree inta Logan's truck up in Canada when Ah was hitchin' a ride with him. Ororo and' th'others saved us, and brought us here. He was with Magneto, so he was there when Magneto started his machine," she said, fingering a lock of the white streak in her hair.

"Tried to kill Ororo a few times… the Professor deliberately had our team face him because he wasn't sure how she'd react…"

Remy's expression darkened. "Another reason den." He muttered.

"Stop," she said, reaching up to touch his chin. "Ah hope ta God we never see him again. Ah don' want yah with that on your conscience too."

Remy glanced away, properly abashed. "Sorry."

Rogue smiled slightly. "Now, Ah understand why yah did it, why yah blew up on him. But why'd yah leave? Ororo said she's seen yah do it sometimes when she stayed with yah."

He sighed, and when he glanced up at her she was surprised by the vulnerable look in his eyes. "I didn' want you to see me like that. Full of rage an' hate. Scare myself sometimes wit' it, an' I didn' want you scared of me. Dat'd kill me."

She chewed on her lip for a moment. "Remy… Ah don't think that's really fair."

He looked up at her skeptically. "Oh?"

She nodded. "Yah shouldn't' be afraid t'let me see yah like that. It won' change mah feelin's for yah. Ah… yah saw me at mah worst, with Carol, saw what mah powers can lead to, not even rememberin' who Ah was. An' yah still stuck by me despite that. Next time, trust me t'do that with _you_."

Remy sighed heavily, and nodded as she slid the palm of her hand against his cheek. "Alrigh', _Chére_. I won' run again."

He leaned forward and pressed his forehead against hers. "Sorry," he said again, lightly touching his lips to hers.

"Ah know," she whispered, her eyes closed as she reveled at his closeness.

A small grin cracked across her face, and she opened her eyes to look into his. "Now, show me you're really sorry by makin' me an' Sarah a big breakfast."

He chuckled, and tenderly kissed her forehead. "Alrigh'. I take it you ain't gonna help?"

She shook her head. "Nope, you're on your own. But… Ah'll go help Sarah with those flash cards."

Remy nodded, and stood up. "Alrigh' den, I'll let you two know when it's ready." He said, and watched her leave the room for a moment before shaking his head.

"Women – so damn confusin' sometimes," he grumbled to himself as he pulled out the pancake mix.

* * *

Kitty reached up and pulled one of the earbuds from her ear when she heard a loud knock at her door. She continued scrolling down her computer screen. "Door's open," she called.

She glanced away for a moment to see who it was before focusing on the screen again. "Hey Pete, what's up."

"Kitty, you haven't left your room all day," he said, and she heard a note of concern in his voice that caused her to slowly pull her attention away from the computer.

She rubbed at her tired eyes, and shook her head. "Sorry, I've been busy. What time is it?"

"Seven o'clock. You've been up here for twelve hours straight," he said.

She looked up at him with a startled expression, and turned to glance out the window and saw the setting sun. She'd been aware she had been working on the Purifier hard drives for a few hours, but hadn't realized time had slipped away so fast.

Piotr handed her a plate, which held a large warm sandwich. "I made you something to eat." He said. "Don't worry, it's all vegetarian – grilled portabella with onions, peppers and tomatoes."

She smiled and took the plate, and cocked her head in his direction. "Thanks Pete, that was sweet of you."

He looked slightly embarrassed. "Well, I was worried about you. You didn't have lunch, and probably wouldn't have had dinner either."

She blushed slightly. "You're probably right. I _totally_ lost track of time. I can be a bit OCD when it comes to this stuff."

She took a bite of the sandwich, and her eyes widened again. "Mm, this's really good, Pete."

Piotr smiled. "Thank you."

He then nodded at the stack of hard drives resting on her desk. "So how's it going?"

She groaned as she swallowed another bite. "Slow. There's so many of them with head crashes, and most of them with even more – damaged PCBs, and disk platters, not to mention the one with the _bullet hole_," she said, waving the sandwich in her hand at the offending hard drive.

"I've repaired what I could but I don't have a clean room to replace most of the stuff, so I've had to just rip a disk image and go through that, and _those_ have been crap to go through."

She brought a hand up to cover her mouth and smother a laugh at the glazed-over look in Piotr's eyes.

He blinked and then blushed again. "Sorry, I understood maybe a quarter of what you just said."

Kitty nodded. "Sometimes I forget not everyone's a computer geek like me," she said over a mouthful of sandwich.

She waved her hand for him to come closer, and she shoved her second desk chair over to him. "I'll explain it if y'want," she said.

He moved over and sat on the chair, scooting it in closer to her and to the computer screen. She tossed the last quarter of the sandwich on the plate, and grabbed one of the hard drives.

"So, every hard drive is sort of its own little machine. Tiny moving parts, all needing to be pretty much perfectly aligned to work right. A PCB is a printed circuit board – it's this really thin set of copper sheets that they etched a bunch of pathways into. It's sorta the support for the wiring and everything. That's hard to recover from unless you go to a professional, and I'm not sure we want to take these to one of them."

"A platter is this flat magnetic disk – if you've ever seen pictures it's that big main disk in the hard drive. That's where the data is stored. If that gets damaged, you're not gonna have much luck."

"Fortunately most of the damage is from a head crash. A head is sorta like those head things on record players, you know?"

Piotr nodded, smiling as she animatedly explained it to him.

"They do the same for the platters, and sometimes in an impact they actually touch them and dig in and wreck the data where they hit. Those I can get stuff from with the imaging stuff I mentioned."

"Basically it's like a giant scan of everything on the disk. Takes a while to get everything, and then you have to go through it. Some of these lost their file names, and they're just going by numbers, so I hafta go through each one manually and figure out what it says and what to name it. And some of them you only get half the stuff and the rest is a garbled mess."

Piotr nodded in understanding. "So you've been going through every file on every hard drive."

Kitty grimaced, and rubbed her eyes again. "Yeah. It's not very fun. Especially when most of it is just a bunch of garbage like payroll, ordering new supplies, lunch plans, e-mails between other people asking what they're doing over the weekend, that sort of stuff. There _is_ some juicy stuff though, hints of stuff going on higher up – some sort of project started up recently, but I can't figure out where or what it is. Lots of info on the other Purifier branches in the area though."

Piotr smiled, and rested his hand briefly on her shoulder. "You're doing great work, Kitty, just… don't work yourself ragged like this. Everyone's worried – _I'm_ worried. I know this helps you forget things back home, but it's not much if you starve yourself and end up getting sick."

Kitty nodded, looking away for a moment. "I guess so. Thanks. I'll… I promise I'll at least take some breaks, okay?" She asked, reaching up to lay her hand over his where it rested on his shoulder. "Thank you for worrying about me."

He smiled softly. "Can't help it. Just… talk to me sometime. This doesn't have to be the only way you escape thinking about everything else."

She softly squeezed the fingers of her hand with her own, and then dropped her hand into her lap. "I know," she said quietly.

"Kitty?" He asked, building up his courage.

"Yeah, Pete."

"There's an art expo coming to town next weekend, and I thought I'd go. D'you want to come with me? I know it's the weekend before finals, but I figure by then we'll already have fried our brains studying and need a break… I mean, it's not like-"

Kitty grinned, and broke him off. "Sure. I'll come," she said.

Piotr smiled, and nodded, a hint of relief in his expression. "Alright, I'll reserve us tickets." He said.

"Cool," Kitty said.

Piotr stood up, suddenly feeling much better than when he'd entered the room. "I'll… leave you to your hard drives then. Just make sure you don't forget to sleep, too."

Kitty nodded, and picked up the rest of the sandwich again. "Thanks for takin' care of me, Petey," she said, teasingly using the nickname his sister used for him, and then grabbed her mouse with her free hand.

He shook his head, seeing her become once again engrossed in the files she was searching through, and he quietly closed the door behind him.

He leaned his back against it, and sighed happily. It wasn't exactly a date, certainly nothing official and this close to her parent's divorce, but he'd be spending most of a day with her away from the mansion, so that was something, wasn't it? He thought happily to himself.

* * *

_"And Humanity's Last Stand, an openly anti-mutant organization formed in the last year and compared by many people to a Mutant KKK, has generated new outrage, with their announcement of their intent to "Adopt" several miles of highway in Georgia, Tennessee, and Arizona under the "Adopt-A-Highway" program."_

_"If the program approves of their application, signs along those stretches of highway would be set up which indicate their group is responsible for cleaning that area. This isn't the first time an openly anti-genetic or anti-race organization has done something like this – a short lived anti-mutant group called Pure Genes attempted something similar, but shut down before the application was processed."_

_"In the past the KKK applied in a number of places, and in some were even approved, and signs were placed on those stretches of highway. So such a thing is not without precedent, and some believe that, at least in Georgia, there is a good chance they will succeed_."

Graydon hit the 'Mute' button on the remote control as the story ended, and wrapped his arm around his wife. "Enough news." He said, grinning.

Mikaela leaned forward to kiss him, when a knock came at the door, and moments later Ron entered. She pouted to Graydon, and sat back with a sigh.

"Make this quick, Ron – what is it," Graydon said, clearly frustrated himself at the lack of time he'd been able to spend with his wife.

"Yeah, I'll be quick," Ron said, a broad grin on his face. "Gray – they did it!"

Creed frowned. "Who did what?"

"The A.I. project – the SENTINELs. They had their field test on Monday. It was a complete success. Apparently the joint chiefs are planning to put it into full production. Our man told me today, he waited to make sure they worked out a few tiny bugs that showed up, but now they're all ready, and we need to act."

"It was a success?"

Maldrone nodded. "Completely. They set up mock battle conditions in a town, and the SENTINELS went through and took out every hostile and took only cosmetic damage to their paint. And no one else was harmed, only the ones acting as the enemy."

"And our man's ready? He's sure we can pull this off?"

Maldrone nodded. "I already went over our extraction plans with him, and the base in Michigan is ready for us to move them in once we hijack them. Then it's just a matter of the modified programming, a bit of testing, and then mass production. By your Inauguration Day, we should have a good thousand ready, best case scenario. All ready for you to bring out to the public."

Graydon grinned. "That _is_ great news, Ron. Thanks for letting me know – go ahead with the operation to retrieve the SENTINELS. I want this done as soon as possible."

Ron nodded, and moved toward the door. "I'll get in contact with the team leader right away."

As the door shut behind him, Graydon turned to his wife, who he thought looked positively radiant after the news. "Celebrate, shall we?" he murmured, pulling her onto his lap.

* * *

Remy slowly rubbed down the horse next to Sarah after their short ride. He'd pulled her and Rogue out early in the morning for a quick ride to give Sarah a break from her studies. He'd already planned to pull her aside for his talk later on in the day, so he'd enjoyed the ride while he could.

His phone began to ring, and he reached into his pocket. He was about to grab his regular cell, when he realized the ring was different. He fished deeper, and pulled out the slim phone from S.H.I.E.L.D., and flipped it open.

"This's Gambit," he said after ensuring it had set up its encrypted connection correctly.

"Agent Gambit, this is Carter," she said over the connection. "I know you all were planning on that practice session with the rest of the team tomorrow to get used to each other, but unfortunately something's come up, and we need all of you. You're going to have to wing it as a team."

"Gotcha," Remy said. "When?"

"Be at the pickup site in half an hour if you can. Sooner if possible."

"Alright. I'll tell Rogue, but you better call de others because I'm not near all of dem."

"Thanks. See you soon, soldier." Carter said, and the connection clicked off.

"Who was that, Remy?" Sarah asked curiously.

Remy put a hand on her shoulder. You remember dat secret team I tol' you 'bout? De one dat'll help us get de Purifiers?"

She nodded, her eyes wide.

"We just got a mission. We gotta leave in fifteen minutes to drive to meet somewhere."

He led the horse back out onto the pasture, and removed the bit from her mouth, allowing her to trot off to the other horses. "You be a good girl, _hein_? Study while I'm gone."

Sarah nodded, and grabbed his hand as they walked toward the front of the barn where Rogue was – he still had to tell her.

"Alright – be really careful, Remy."

"I will, _petite_. See you soon as I get back.

* * *

_French Phrases/words:_

_Je suis navré – I'm extremely sorry (literally: I'm heartbroken)_

_Désolé - Sorry_

_**A/N:**__ Well, hope you all liked it. LOL, I couldn't resist throwing in an "I'm a doctor" line. :D Nor could I resist throwing in Essex or the crack about him and Remy's brain. :p_

_So, lots of action, and lots of development (Ah, Piotr and Kitty are working out great whenever I write them – they're just so darned cute together)– and we see hints of coming (big) events. We're also slowly counting down to the end of this fic – I'm guessing right now that Chapter 34 or 35 will be the last, and then it's on to the sequel._

_Next chap: X-Force mission, Sarah and Remy have a talk, a bit of thievery (not involving Remy this time!), and plenty more! See y'all next time._


	30. Chapter 30: Operations

_**Disclaimer: X-Men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-Men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway ;)**_

_A/N:Alright, now I'm getting into gear on my summer update schedule. Just a tad over a week, which will be the general timeline between chapters. We get an X-Force mission, Remy and Sarah talk, and a bit more with the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s. Thanks for all the feedback last time, and please read and review, and enjoy, this new chapter!_

**Chapter 30: Operations**

* * *

The sleek helicopter sped them toward the Helicarrier, now clearly in sight. Remy and the others had changed and been out of the mansion within minutes of the calls, driving one of the school vans to the small area they'd been driven to before.

A helicopter was waiting for them, and had taken off the moment they stepped aboard, speeding away much faster than the last transport they'd taken. As a result, they were near the Helicarrier in ten minutes less than it had taken the last time.

Their pilot turned sharply, circling them around the massive floating structure, and then carefully hovered down to land on a small area on the side of the 'Carrier's deck. He gestured for them to get out, and they hurried through the door and over to the same staircase they'd used before, where Carter was already waiting.

"Follow me," she said, her voice tense.

"What's th'mission?" Logan asked.

"I'll brief you in the helicopter with the others," she said quietly as they tried to keep pace with her in the narrow corridors of the Helicarrier.

She took them down several side corridors and down a set of stairs to a larger hall in what seemed to be a shortcut from the way they'd gone their previous visit.

The hall soon ended at the entrance to the vehicle bay, and they could see Domino and Jamie waiting by the sleek black X-49 helicopter they'd seen the previous time they'd been here.

"Sorry about the short notice. Hope you guys are ready," Domino said as they neared them.

"'bout time you guys got here," said another Jamie as he walked up behind them. He tossed a slim communicator to each of the newcomers. Each one consisted of a small earbud, a frame that kept it in place by hooking around the back of the ear, and a slim, long microphone that could be bent to fit the person's face.

"Put those on," he said, and then walked back in the direction he had come.

Jamie, the one that had been waiting by the helicopter, pushed off from where he had been leaning. "Don't mind him, he's just grumpy that I'm making him stay behind and monitor the mission from the Helicarrier. Now that we're all here, let's get going. Clarice is waiting for us."

Carter followed the others onboard, and slid around to the front, to sit in the copilot's seat. She turned around in the seat to look back at them.

"Where are we headed?" Logan asked.

"Philadelphia. I'll brief you in a minute. Blink will teleport us to a S.H.I.E.L.D. helipad about thirty miles out from your mission, and we'll fly the rest of the way in. We've found it easiest for her and us to have a set number of pads with coordinates she can remember easily."

"That was after we'd done a few blind teleports and she 'ported us in front of a passenger jet," Jamie muttered, grinning.

"Shh!" Clarice commanded, shooting a glare back from her place in the pilot's seat. "I need to concentrate – this is the biggest group I've 'ported before. And one more word from you and I'm leaving your liver behind, Jamie."

His mouth snapped shut, and she turned back to the front, a smug smile on her face.

Clarice took a deep breath, and placed her hands firmly on the instrument board. A pink glow immediately erupted from them and slowly began to envelop first the board itself, and then the frame of the helicopter before it moved on to each of the passengers.

It then flashed brightly, and there was a momentary feeling of weightlessness, before gravity slammed back in and the light disappeared.

Remy glanced out the window and found himself looking out at an open-air helipad surrounded by a high chain-link and barbed wire fence in a wooded area.

"_Mein Gott_," Kurt breathed – she'd teleported not only them, but an entire _helicopter_ to within 30 miles of Philadelphia, or about a hundred miles away from where they'd been. He could barely handle transporting a group of people a few miles without getting tired, so this sort of ability was amazing.

Clarice turned her head, looking back at the group with a large smile. "Hey, everyone still in one piece?"

"Hope so," Domino said.

"Alrighty then, let's get to Philly," she said, turning her attention to the controls and flicking a series of switches.

Either the engine ran quietly or the body of the helicopter was soundproof, because as the engine started and the blades began to whirl, it made only the slightest hint of sound in the passenger compartment – little more than what one would experience on a passenger airliner.

Carter turned around in her seat as the helicopter lifted off, and swung down a small flatscreen television monitor that had been locked into the ceiling. She tapped a few buttons on the PDA she carried, and the screen flickered to life with the logo of S.H.I.E.L.D. against a blue background.

Then an image of an olive skinned man with a well-trimmed beard slid onto the screen.

"This is our target today. His name is Ahmet Abdol; he also goes by the moniker of '_Hayy Jabal_'' – an Arabic phrase that roughly translates to 'Stone That Lives' or 'Living Monolith'."

She switched the picture to one of him walking with a group of people, AK-47s slung over their shoulders. "He's an Egyptian national, and member of _Qaeda Al Jihad_, an Egyptian terrorist group with strong links to Al Qaeda. He's one of their lead operatives and has been involved in a number of high profile bombings and assassinations in Egypt."

"The reason you're needed is that this man is a mutant – a very powerful mutant terrorist, and we need you to neutralize him. Not a lot is known about his abilities. What we do know is that he feeds off of radiation – the more he gets the stronger he gets. When he's absorbed enough radiation, he has some level of super-strength, something described as concussive force beams he can shoot out of his eyes, and very durable skin – an Egyptian assassination operation took a shot at him with a fifty caliber rifle, and it barely pierced his skin."

"We believe he's here for his brother, Asal. His brother was picked up in Philadelphia last month for planning a terrorist attack and sending information back to his organization. He's being held in the federal penitentiary in northern Pennsylvania until his trial starts."

"Ahmet arrived in New Jersey earlier today with a fake passport. Someone spotted it as he went through customs, and when the airport security tried to detain him, he shoved his arm into an x-ray machine in the security line and started tossing around guards like they were dolls."

Carter sighed, and switched the screen to show a map of Pennsylvania, with a red line apparently showing his path. "He was spotted two hours ago attacking a hospital and forcing them to use a CT scanner on him to collect the radiation from that. Police have been trying to track him, and we saw him near a convenience store outside of Philadelphia just ten minutes ago."

She clicked something on her PDA and the map zoomed in on the city of Philadelphia itself, showing his path through the city – a number of dots showing reported sightings, as well as police efforts to halt him.

Rogue frowned, looking over the path, which seemed to change and straighten out several times at certain intersections, almost as if the man was following directions.

Her eyes narrowed. "What's this group of buildings he seems t'be headin' for? It looks like he's changin' course to end up straight through here."

Carter looked down on the PDA at her display. "Pennsylvania State University. Private college."

Remy snapped his fingers. "You said his brother was scoutin' de city for terrorist targets? So he'd know a bit about de city. Maybe he told his brother dere's somethin' here. Dey got some sort of medical facilities or somethin' dat would give him more radiation?"

Carter's brow furrowed, and she spend the next minute searching the school on the internet, scrolling through several pages, and then she paled. "Oh, damn." She said under her breath.

"Clarice, speed us up, fast as we can go," she said urgently, and then looked up at the others. "Penn University has a nuclear reactor, set up for research with radiation. It's small, only one megawatt of power at max capacity, but I'm sure it'd be producing than enough radiation to fuel Abdol for a prison break."

"We're going to have to hope we beat him to the campus, because I don't want to know what he'll be capable of if he reaches that reactor.

She left up the screen with a map of the campus for them to study, and nodded in Domino's direction. "Dom is team leader. Let's make this a quick takedown. And remember – he's got a limited amount of power. Wear him down if you have to, because once he runs out he's as vulnerable as any baseline human and needs another recharge to keep it up."

She pulled out her slim cell phone. "Make whatever plans you can, we'll be there in ten. I've got to call that school and get them evacuated, and hopefully get that reactor shut down."

* * *

Ahmet walked through the school campus, trying to not appear out of place as best he could. He looked back down at the map and directions he'd taken from Egypt, which his brother had provided him, and turned to move through a large green commons area toward a squat building several hundred yards away.

He could only read English to a limited extent, but it had been enough to get him by on his trip toward this building from New Jersey. Once he obtained the power available here, nothing, and no one, would stop him from rescuing his brother.

Ahmet winced as he took a wide stride that pulled at the skin of his side. He'd been shot by the police at the airport as he'd begun to absorb the energy from the x-ray machine, and he'd been vulnerable enough that it had punched partway into his skin, leaving a bleeding, painfully deep flesh wound.

He'd forced one of the nurses at the hospital to bandage it, but the outer part of the white bandage was already starting to soak red with blood.

Ahmet's eyebrows furrowed when the cell phones of the young men and women around him began ringing almost completely in sync. Each person answered the phone or read a text, and then a sort of composed panic began, and people began moving away from the buildings and toward vehicles, a panicked murmuring rising amongst them.

He smiled grimly to himself – they were evacuating because of him. It gave him a sense of cocky satisfaction that he could strike such fear in the hearts of these people.

Ahmet moved toward the large double-door entrance of the building he had been approaching, and a burly security guard stepped up and in front of him before he could enter.

"I'm sorry sir, the school has issued an emergency evacuation, all buildings are going into lockdown. You can't –"

He was cut off with a gurgle as Ahmet's hand jabbed forward and gripped his throat with inhuman strength. Ahmet hefted the larger man from the ground, and squeezed harder. The man slumped bonelessly to the ground moments later, his neck snapped.

Ahmet yanked the door open, and stalked down the hallway, following a sign that said something – the only word he could recognize from it was 'nuclear', and ended up following a small series of the same sign with arrows pointing the direction to the reactor.

He ran into one more guard, and dealt with him just as swiftly as the first, although this time he felt the exertion more, and felt the pain in his side stab harder. He was beginning to run out of energy – the constant movement and several encounters with the police were quickly draining him, and he needed this _soon_.

He turned a corner and came to the end of a small hallway with a door labeled 'control room'. He put his shoulder to it with a firm shove, and the locked door flew inward, off of its hinges.

An older man, with graying hair who appeared to be some sort of scientist, whirled around in his chair in front of the control panel, and stared at Ahmet in shock. "What- how – you aren't authorized to be in here."

Ahmet growled, and spat in the man's face before grabbing the front of his shirt and tossing him across the room. A glance at the display of the control panel showed the reactor to be running, but that the man had been in the process of initiating a shutdown – he'd made it just in time.

Ahmet walked to the other door in the room, and opened it. It led out onto a metal platform and a set of stairs inside the reactor room, which ran down to the floor. He smiled in contentment as he moved slowly toward it.

He absently fingered a long quartz crystal that hung from a golden chain on his neck. He could absorb energy brute-force-like if he needed to, but having a crystal like this helped him focus the energy into himself much more readily.

He reached the ground floor of the room. The room itself was taken up mainly by a large, deep pool of water that glowed an ethereal blue from Cherenkov radiation. The pool surrounded the reactor itself, and provided cooling during operation – to get to the radiation and the reactor itself he'd need to take a swim.

Ahmet took a deep breath, and then jumped into the water, shivering slightly from the cold temperature at the top where the water was freshly pumped in. He ducked his head under, and swam quickly downward toward the bright light of the reactor.

As he neared it, came within a few feet of the powerful nuclear-powered device, he felt a tingling feeling grow, crawling along his skin, as he began to absorb the radiation.

He moved his hands in the water to bring himself even closer, and then felt the full brunt of the power of the reactor. Power surged through him, like a drug, much more intense than anything he'd ever felt, almost to the point of pleasure.

He reveled in it, soaking up more and more of it, until it reached a point where he began to feel like he was going to overload all of his senses. He kicked his legs and swam back to the surface, gasping as he received air.

He gripped the edge of the pool of water and yanked himself out, staggering to his feet. He moved a hand down to his abdomen, and laughed with delight when he felt his wound had disappeared.

He strode confidently from the room, and toward the exit of the building. He'd never contained so much power, and the energy coursing through his veins gave him an even stronger sense of confidence. '_These cowards will pay for what they've done to my brother_,' he thought to himself.

Ahmet suddenly dropped to his knees and doubled over in pain. A stab of blinding agony had hit his stomach, and he couldn't figure out what had caused it.

The pain spread slightly, to his chest and stomach. Suddenly there was a pinging crack, and his chain dropped from his neck with the crystal still attached – one of the links looked completely severed – snapped.

'_What_?' He thought to himself, looking dumbly down at the necklace.

His clothes felt much tighter than they had before, and while he'd noticed a slight tightness moments before, he'd thought it was due to them being wet from his 'swim' in the reactor pool.

Looking down though, he saw the flesh of his arm trying to bulge out around the abnormally tight cuff of his shirtsleeve. It was as if he was _growing_ and it confused him.

His vague suspicion was confirmed at an increase of the sharp pain and a sudden tearing sound as his shirt burst open at the seams, no longer able to expand with his body.

Another burst of pain wracked his body, and then another, and he writhed on the floor as his pants went the way of his shirt while his entire body continued to grow and expand.

'_What is happening to me_?' He wondered in panic and pain.

* * *

"Alright, let's close down the area around the reactor building until we get a better idea of where he is," Domino said, pulling open the door to the helicopter.

She jumped out first, landing in a crouch on ground, which Clarice was hovering several feet above, pulling a heavy black duffel bag with her. The others followed her, and they fanned out to begin to surround the building – Clarice had set them down in a large open commons area near the building in question.

There was a heavy downdraft of wind as Clarice took off again. "_We'll circle around, try to get a visual, and stay in contact. If you need help, Carter can take control and I'll 'port down and get you out of there."_ Her voice came over the headsets.

"Copy that," Domino said. "Jamie, you and your dupes take the west side and we'll take the other sides – wait –" She pointed to the front of the building where the lifeless body of the security guard laid at the door. "We're too late, he's inside. Probably already at the reactor. Plan B."

Plan B – get into the building and hit him hard and heavy to drain his energy – was halted moments later when a loud cracking noise came from the building, moments before the roof exploded outward in a cloud of drywall, metal, and other debris.

First a head and then a torso appeared, revealing a huge, grey-skinned man with no hair. Only his facial features themselves showed him to be Abdol. The fact that he towered over them by at least twenty feet likely had a bit to do with him being somewhat hard to recognize.

"Shit," Logan muttered. "Thought she said we were facin' some superstrong guy. Not fuckin' Paul Bunyan."

The enormous man turned once he broke free from the remains of the roof, and started moving toward them, although he didn't appear to notice them.

Remy's eyebrows rose. "_Naked_ Paul Bunyan. Dat's _not _somethin' I wanted to see. Gonna have nightmares now."

"Carter, you seeing this? No intel on this?" Dom asked, her lips curling upward slightly at Logan and Remy and their banter.

"_I see that, Dom, we had no idea this could happen. Then again, he probably hasn't run into many nuclear reactors living in the desert in Egypt. Orders are the same. Neutralize or kill. We can't let him get off the campus – we haven't evacuated any of the surrounding area."_

"Got it," Neena said, and then switched over to the team frequency, and looked at each of them with a slight grin. "Welcome to our life. Wish we could have gotten a practice run in, but this will have to do."

"Rogue, Gambit, hit him fast and hard – Nightcrawler, distract him. If we can get him off balance, Jamie, you and your dupes trip him up – I'll hang back and do what I can," she said, unzipping her bag to reveal several long sniper rifles, and grenades, and even an RPG launcher. "Wolverine, Carter said his skin was impenetrable. Somehow I doubt he's run into your claws before, so let's see just how invulnerable he is."

"My pleasure, Dom," Logan said, easily slipping into the codename mindset.

Kurt vanished in a puff of smoke as Remy pulled out a full deck of his cards. Kurt reappeared directly in Abdol's face, and the man looked at him in surprise, for the first time noticing the group in front of him. Kurt used the momentum of his teleportation to swing around and kick the man in the eye – about all he could do given the fact that his head was around the same size as Kurt himself.

Abdol grunted, and slapped his hand upward, as if batting away a fly, but Kurt was already gone, leaving a puff of his sulfurous smoke in the man's face. He began a series of similar harassing attacks, just enough to make Abdol angry and get his attention elsewhere.

Remy charged as much power as he could into the deck – without disintegrating it – and hurled it upward at Abdol, who had continued walking toward them. It exploded with a brilliant blast underneath his chin, and he staggered back, stunned and blinded by the explosion.

Rogue darted over, underneath him while he was distracted, to the now-ruined part of the building they'd come to defend. She grabbed a large chunk of concrete, nearly twice her size, and hefted it over her head as she flew back toward the others.

She decided to take advantage of his vulnerable and exposed anatomy, and spun with the hunk of concrete before letting it go like a shotput weight, and it hurtled toward the man, and shattered on impact.

Abdol grunted, and nearly doubled over, grasping at his crotch to protect it from further blows.

Domino took advantage of that movement to sight down the scope of her rifle, and begin firing. Each shot hit its mark, near one of his eyes, and he clenched it shut against the attack.

Abdol let out a guttural roar, and his eyes suddenly glowed a bright yellow, and his face twisted into a snarl. He swatted again at Kurt, and clipped his tail on one swing, causing him to tumble until he could recover to teleport away.

He kicked a nearby car, and Remy, Jamie, Logan, and Domino had to scatter to avoid the tumbling mass. "_Merde_, we just made him mad!" Remy yelled as he took a glancing blow across the forehead from the fender when he tried to dodge.

He reached up and wiped away the trickle of blood that began to drip down into his eyes from the cut in his forehead. He wasn't too concerned by the amount of blood – head wounds always seemed to bleed a lot, and always looked worse than they were.

Rogue shot back into the air, and grabbed the rolling car, stopping its advance, and then she hurled it straight back at Abdol where it exploded into an flaming mess against his chest.

She flew up, closer, and spun circles around his head, trying to give the others time to recover, and was rewarded with the sound of several whistling bullets flying past her and striking Abdol as Domino got set up again with her rifle.

She darted forward several times, landing a few heavy kicks to his face that seemed to have some effect in disorienting him.

Kurt and Logan took advantage as well – Kurt teleported him in near one of Abdol's legs. Logan's claws sprang forward from his knuckles, and he stabbed them down onto the man's foot. There was a slight resistance, but Dom was right, he thought to himself, as they punctured Abdol's skin.

He had to yank them back out quickly when Abdol's leg jerked at the sudden pain, trying to toss him off of his foot. But Logan quickly ran to the other foot and did the same, slicing several deep gashes into the skin and deeper into the muscle.

Abdol looked downward, his eyes still glowing, and blasted Logan off of his feet with a burst of yellowish energy that left a smoking crater behind where it had hit.

He turned toward Domino and Jamie, and unleashed another concussive blast, sustaining it and tracking to follow them. The blast neared Jamie and he scattered – literally – in several dozen directions, each dupe giving Abdol a new target he had to focus on. The optic blast left a gouged track in its wake, furrowing into the green lawn of the commons as he tried in vain to hit his enemies.

Logan scampered – rather agilely – up the man's leg, digging his claws in as handholds, causing pain and irritation to the enormous man when he wasn't fast enough. Logan soon reached the spot on his back that Abdol couldn't reach to knock him away, and stabbed his claws into where his spine should be.

Abdol growled with frustration, jerking his head wildly to try to hit someone out of blind luck with the blasts of energy from his eyes. Then he reached back to grab a long, steel support beam that had been part of the structure he'd torn his way out of. He swung it around with blinding speed like a baseball bat.

Rogue was unable to dodge to the side in time and took the full force of the girder against her body. The impact bent the girder in half, and slammed her out of the air and to the ground, where she left her own impact crater.

"Rogue!" Remy cried, seeing her motionless in a shallow hole in the ground, bleeding from her nose.

He hurled three more decks of playing cards at Abdol before he turned and started to dash to her side.

He stopped – relieved – when she began to move, and then sat up, as if startled awake, and even from where he was a few dozen feet away, he could see the flash of blue in her eyes.

"_Very_ bad idea," Carol growled, tensing her knees before launching back into the air. "Never learned you shouldn't hit a girl?"

She flew forward, and rammed into Abdol's face with both of her outstretched fists, snapping his head backwards. She flew around him before he could recover, and grabbed another chunk of the building – this one much larger, and then darted upward into the air at incredible speed, until Remy could no longer even see her.

Logan stabbed further into Abdol's back, and Domino tossed aside her sniper rifle in favor of the RPG-7 launcher in her pack. She was about to sight down the small ironsights on the tube barrel, when Remy slipped up beside her.

"Wait. Let's give dis a bit more of a bang, shall we?" He said, and rested his fingertips against the grenade warhead, the magenta glow spreading down its length, but never touching the tube of the launcher itself.

He removed his fingers and stepped back. "Better do it quick, I c'n only concentrate on keepin' it from blowin' for a little bit."

Her eyes lit up and she flashed him a wide grin. "I like the way you think, Gambit."

She braced it against her shoulder fully and pulled the trigger, which launched the warhead at Abdol. It spun slightly as it left, and for a moment it looked like it might not fly straight enough, but it seemed to correct in mid flight, and Remy let go of his control over the charge as it impacted Abdol.

Abdol was staggered back by the massive explosion, nearly knocked off his feet, as the explosives of the grenade itself were enhanced by Remy's enormous kinetic energy charge.

Jamie was already acting, the ground around Abdol quickly covered by dozens – hundreds maybe – of dupes, each grasping his feet and legs and pushing and pulling.

It was enough to complete Abdol's loss of balance, and he fell back. Logan managed to jump off the toppling man and roll out of harm's way, and the dupes in the way simply blurred back toward the others, absorbing into them.

Abdol slammed down onto his back, his head hitting the side of the building forcefully enough to knock several bricks loose and to cause the wall itself to buckle inward.

In all of that, Abdol had gone with the "out of sight out of mind" approach with respect to Rogue, and that ended up being his undoing.

Moments after he toppled, Rogue – or rather Carol – streaked through the air straight downward, shoving the concrete chunk in front of her with all her might. She was a blur as she slammed it heavily into Abdol's stomach, the block exploding into a million little shards on impact.

She flew away, somewhat wobbly, as Abdol doubled up on his back, his knees drawn up to his chest as he clutched his stomach, moaning. His eyes seemed to be unconsciously still projecting their energy in a long, yellow beacon up into the sky.

As they watched, he began to shrink back down, losing nearly half his height in mere moments, as the energy expended from the fight and leaking from his eyes drained his reserves he'd gotten from the reactor.

"We've got him," Domino said over the headset. "I'll collar him, but we need to get out of here before the police – or worse, the media – get out here."

"_We're coming in,_" Clarice said over the channel, and the helicopter banked from where it had been circling a half-mile away, and moved toward them.

Rogue landed next to Remy, stumbling slightly as she did so.

"Carol?" Remy asked, and she looked up at him, nodding. "She alright?"

Domino watched them with interest. "I thought your name was Marie…" She said. "That's what Fury's file on you said."

Carol smiled slightly, and moved her hand up to swipe at the blood still dripping slowly from her nose. "That's Rogue's name. I'm Carol Danvers - Rogue absorbed me a few weeks back – I was dying and sorta made her do it, and now I'm pretty much a resident of her head. I can take over for her if she lets me."

She shifted her gaze back to Remy. "She's fine, just a bit shaken up. The blow knocked her out for a minute or so, and so I took over. I'll give her a few to get back to normal, and let her take over again when we're sitting down in the helicopter."

Remy nodded, relief passing over his eyes. He'd known she was durable, but not how much punishment she could really take. He clenched his jaw against the image of her lying lifelessly as it passed through his mind again.

Domino stepped over to her bag and shifted several weapons aside until she found a slim metal collar. She grabbed it and took over to the now-normal-sized Abdol, and snapped into place around his neck.

Carol looked up when Remy placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. He gave her a knowing look, and she unclenched fists she hadn't realized she'd made at the sight of the collar.

As the helicopter landed nearby, Remy slung an arm around her shoulder, turning her away from Abdol and toward the open door of the helicopter. He bent his face down near her ear. "Don' have to worry 'bout dat no more, _hein_? Anyone come near you or Rogue wit' dat thing an' dey'll be dealin' with me."

She shot him a weak smile. "Rogue's right, you _are_ way too sweet." She said, and winked at him before she climbed up into the passenger bay of the helicopter.

Remy hid a grin, and gripped the edge of the door as he turned to look back. Domino had packed up her bag, and had shouldered it, walking next to Logan and Kurt. Behind them, Jamie and several of his dupes had picked up the now-unconscious and powerless Abdol, and were carrying him toward the helicopter.

'_All in all, pretty damn good first mission_,' Remy thought to himself. While he enjoyed working with the others as one of the X-Men, this group had its own charm to it as well.

He clambered up into the passenger bay, and grabbed Domino's duffel bag for her as she reached the door, and heaved it aboard, before moving to the side to sit down next to Carol as the others entered, followed last by Jamie, his dupes, and Abdol, who they carried to the far back. They zip-tied his hands together, and tossed a blanket over him – whatever exactly was behind his mutation didn't seem to care about clothes, unlike Jamie's own.

"Well, that was a blast, leave Jamie the naked bad guy to carry back to the chopper," Jamie said sarcastically, sitting down in his own seat after absorbing the rest of his dupes.

"Oh quit being a baby," Domino said, a twinkle in her eyes. "I saw the look you were giving him. I figured you two could use some alone time."

She gave up trying to hold in a chuckle when Jamie stared at her, his jaw working uselessly, no sound coming from his mouth.

He finally grunted, and looked pleadingly at all the others. "You see? You see what I have to go through? I hoped all you newbies coming to the team would get those two off my case," he said, jerking his thumb at a grinning Domino and Clarice, "but I see I was mistaken."

"Don' see what the problem is, Madrox, two pretty girls makin' a fuss over you an' teasin' you – most guys'd be happy." Logan said, grinning at the discomfort that appeared on the girls' faces and the laugh from Jamie.

Domino elbowed him in the gut, blushing slightly. "Very funny, Logan. Just for that, you're paying for my beer when we catch up later."

* * *

The police had quickly zeroed in on the latest disturbance, and were likely very puzzled when they reached the campus and found no cause for the ruined building, and the crumpled car that rested on the furrowed commons along with several enormous footprints indented into the grass.

Clarice had been monitoring the local police scanner, and quickly ported the entire team and their helicopter back to the Helicarrier once the police forces neared the site of the battle, and the team was now busy unloading the helicopter.

A team of armed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had entered the vehicle bay upon their arrival, and were marching off with a groggy Abdol between them.

Logan was helping Domino unload her several several long duffel bags of weapons she'd brought, Clarice and Carter were going through post-flight checklists, and Kurt and Jamie were outside, having helped bring Abdol off the helicopter.

Carol took a deep breath, from her seat next to Remy, and closed her eyes, a slight shudder passing over her body as Rogue took control once more.

She blinked, and her familiar brown eyes gazed unfocused at him for a moment.

"Rogue? You alright?"

"Yeah. Ah'm okay. Just… a bit knocked around." Her eyes widened. "Remy! You're bleeding!" She exclaimed, looking at the wound on his forehead.

She reached under the seat and removed a small backpack she'd carried along for the trip, and quickly pulled out a small first aid kit. She smiled slightly at his curious look.

"Ah figure Ah'm th'only one 'round here that's got trainin' from a nurse, an' Ah wanna be one someday mahself, so Ah might as well be ready as the team medic for y'all."

She pulled out a small disinfecting wipes, and placed her hand behind Remy's head as she leaned in and wiped at the gash with the wipes in her other hand.

He hissed and jerked away slightly at the sharp stinging of the alcohol in the wipes. "Really, _Chére_, it's fine. Jus' a little cut."

She raised her eyebrow. "Really? Well Ah can just leave it like it is, an' we can head on home an' let Sarah see yah with your forehead covered in blood – Ah'm sure that wouldn't make her freak out or anythin'….."

Remy grimaced and sighed. "Good point. Clean away, _ma infirmiére_." He leaned forward, his hand slipping down to the case resting on her lap to grab another wipes. "Only fair I get to take care of you, _Chére_," he said, dabbing away the drying blood by her nose.

She blushed softly, and tried to concentrate on cleaning up his forehead. She let the area around the shallow gash dry – the bleeding had mostly stopped already – and then gently covered it with a thin layer of gauze that she taped down into place.

"Yah get hit hard there? Feelin' dizzy or anythin'?" She asked, pulling his sunglasses off to get a better look into his eyes.

"_Non_, just a piece of de car scratchin' me as it went by. I'm more worried 'bout you, gettin' hit like dat. Y'scared de hell outta me."

She smiled softly, and moved her fingers back and forth in front of his face, observing his eyes as they followed him, before sitting back, fairly certain he hadn't gotten a concussion, although she'd keep an eye on him to make sure.

"Sorry. Ah didn't see it comin' 'till too late. But Ah'm fine. A little sore here," she said, rubbing her neck, "but Carol an' Ah are pretty resilient."

Remy was about to say more, but Clarice and Carter had finished in the cockpit and came out to the passenger bay.

"You two alright?" Carter asked. They both nodded, and she smiled knowingly at their closeness. "Alright, let's head down to the debriefing room. Shouldn't take long – you guys did great for your first run together. We should probably do some training together, but you and Dom and Jamie seem to have clicked pretty well."

"Be right out," Remy said, nodding at her.

Remy stood up and offered Rogue his hand, which she used to help herself up from her seat after she'd packed up the first aid kit. She slung the bag over her shoulder, and shifted to hold his hand tightly as they left the helicopter and joined the others.

* * *

Remy took a deep breath, and slowly entered the open doorway of Sarah's room. He knocked lightly on the doorframe, and she looked up from where she was looking through a textbook.

"Remy! I'm getting bored of studyin'. Can we do something?"

"Hey _petite, _can we talk?" Remy asked softly.

Sarah smiled. "Okay, what about?"

Remy entered the room, and closed the door behind him, and moved over to the bed to sit down next to her.

Her gaze was drawn upward to his forehead, where the cut from their run-in with Abdol was healing well, little more than a thin pink line on his skin. She'd been worried at her first sight of his bandaged head when they'd finally returned to the mansion, and Remy was glad Rogue had thought to take care of it before Sarah had seen it like it had originally been.

Sarah's smile faded at his serious expression, and she looked at him with concern. "Remy? What's wrong?"

He folded his legs up onto the bed, and grabbed her smaller hands in his. "I love you, _petite_. You know dat, right?"

"Y-yeah…" she said. "I love you too, Remy."

He took a deep sigh and looked down. "I need to tell you somethin', _petite_, somethin' I never tol' you. About why I was down in de tunnels."

She looked at him, confusion evident in her expression. "I – you were down there to save us… to save me…" She said questioningly.

"Dat's… dat's true, Sarah, but it ain' de whole truth. I jus'… I didn' want you to hate me, so I didn' tell you everythin'."

Sarah looked at him, her eyes radiating uncertainty. "R-Remy, I couldn't hate you –"

He squeezed her hands. "Please, _petite_, dis's hard for me. Let me say everythin'."

She nodded quietly and he continued. "It wasn' my first time down in dose tunnels. I – I was lookin' for a job, an' someone offered me one dat would be easy money. All I had to do was find de tunnels an' map dem out, an' they'd rob dis bank by excavatin' out underneath it from de tunnels."

He closed his eyes. "I saw you – not you personally, but a bunch of de other mutants down dere. I watched you all for a while, figured out where y'went and when. I wrote it all down so dey could go at a time when you were all asleep, an' not risk runnin' inta you."

"Dis man… de man who hired me… he had me give de map an' my notes to a man dat was leadin' de bank robbery team. His name was Zdravko… Emil Zdravko…"

Sarah swallowed heavily at the name – Remy shouting it as he rescued her still occasionally visited her in her dreams, the fear of the enormous man hurting her, and the relief at Remy arriving in time to save her – and she knew then where this story was going.

"Th-the man in the tunnels?" Sarah asked, her voice trembling slightly.

"Yeah," Remy said, swallowing heavily. "I left, an' went to dis warehouse where de man dat hired me was supposed to pay me. I got dere a bit early, an' found him talkin' on de phone. He was givin' final instructions to de team, and when I-" Remy grimaced. "When I heard him say all of you were supposed to die, I knew what I'd really been hired for."

"I hurried back, but I was too late to save de others… An' you know de rest," he said softly. "I didn' tell you…. _couldn't_, because I was afraid… Afraid you'd hate me, an' I'd lose you. But I couldn' keep hidin' it from you anymore, even if dat means I lose you… I'm sorry…" He whispered.

"Remy, did you know? Did you know that they were going to come down there and kill us?" Sarah asked simply, searching his face, needing to be sure.

"_Non_, not until he said it. I woulda blown de hell outta dat team when I gave 'em de map if I'd known."

Sarah nodded, and looked at him with accepting eyes and a watery smile. "Then I don't blame you for anything, Remy," she said. "Somebody tricked you, an' you tried to help us when you found out."

She placed her much smaller hand against his cheek, and leaned forward, resting her nose tenderly against his. "I still love you, Remy. I'd never hate you – you saved me an' took care of me, an' made everything so much better for me."

Remy closed his eyes, a relieved smile making its way to his face, and he shifted slightly so he could kiss her cheek. "Thanks _petite_," he said softly, and let go of her other hand to pull her into a tight hug.

"Did you tell Rogue?" She asked, her voice muffled in his t-shirt.

Remy nodded, and rested his chin on the top of her head. "Yeah, I tol' her. While back actually."

Sarah looked up and gave him a tentative smile. "Good." Her expression wavered for a moment. "I- kinda figured it was something like this anyway, Remy. Most people didn't know 'bout the tunnels, so I figured there was a reason you were down there in th'first place. An' you knew that man, an' how to get out without getting lost…." she shrugged.

Remy chuckled weakly, and pressed his cheek to her forehead, ignoring the small bone protrusions that pressed against him. "You're too smart, _ma petite_."

Sarah grinned sheepishly, and then wrinkled her nose. "You need a shave, Remy – you're all prickly."

Remy sighed. "I know, didn' do it dis morning – I was worryin' 'bout tellin' you dis…. I'll go shave, an' den if you still want we can do somethin' together."

Sarah nodded, and let him pull away from the hug. "Alright, Remy. What d'ya wanna do?"

"I don' know. Why don' you think of somethin' while I shave, _hein_?"

She nodded, and he leaned down to kiss her forehead one last time. "I love you, _ma mignonne_," he said softly.

Sarah smiled widely. "Love you too, Remy."

* * *

Warren perched on the highest point of the mansion's roof, sitting in a precarious balance above the ground clearly visible several stories below. A month ago such a sight would have been a bit unnerving, but since he'd come to the mansion – in fact, since the very moment he'd leapt from his father's building away from the Cure – it was no more daunting than if he'd been sitting on a ledge at the top of the Empire State Building.

The flying seemed to come natural to him, thanks to his mutation, although building up the muscles for sustained long-distance flight and dead-start take-offs was taking time.

There was a sort of built-in human dread or fear deep down in most people toward heights, or at least falling off of high places. He'd even felt it in himself from time to time, but once the exhilaration of flying under his own power took over the first time, that part of him had disappeared.

Warren looked down apprehensively at the cell phone resting in his hands. He sighed deeply, and pressed the "Talk" icon on the touch screen, and brought the phone up to his ear.

It rang several times before the person on the other end answered. "Warren?"

"Hello father," Warren said.

"Warren! I'm glad you called, after… everything. I was hoping you would. I'm sorry, for trying to force you to take the Cure, I just wanted you to be happy." His father sighed softly. "I see now it was really myself that I was trying to make happy."

"I know, dad. I… I don't blame you. I guess I thought it would make me happy too, until Doctor Rao came toward me with the syringe… That was when I realized what I really wanted." Warren sighed quietly. "I'm not mad at you, dad. What you made, the Cure, it's a good thing – there are a lot of mutants that don't want to live like they do with everyone fearing and hating them, that don't want to be mutants, I'm just not one of them."

"Thank you, Warren," his father said, voice uncharacteristically thick with emotion.

He heard his father clear his throat loudly, and he knew him well enough that he was composing himself again, straightening up and putting on his social face.

"Warren are you coming home? You're – I'd like it if you did, and you're welcome here still."

Warren sighed. "No, dad, I'm not coming home. I… I really like it here at Xavier's. I'll come by sometime in a few weeks and visit though, alright?" He conceded.

"That sounds good. I guess you're fitting in well there?" His father asked.

He laughed. "Yeah, really well actually. A lot better than any of the schools that I went to in San Francisco. But I guess it's probably partly because we're all mutants here."

Warren looked up to the sky, trying to figure out how to best broach the next subject. "How's the company doing?"

"Fairly well. A bit of stock trouble a few days after Magneto attacked, but we've recovered. Filing the insurance claims for the facility and moving the manufacturing to a working facility has been the real pain. Nothing to worry about though."

His father seemed to think about his question more carefully for a moment. "Why? Do you need money, Warren? I can put some into your checking right now if you need it –"

"No, dad," Warren interrupted. "I do need to talk to you about money, but not for my checking – I've got plenty in there, and Charles is letting me stay here for free. I called to talk to you about my trust account from Granddad. I'm over 21 now, and I know I can fully access it now, but I wanted to get your help in turning it over to me."

"The trust account?" His father said in surprise. "Warren, that's… that's a lot of money in there, are you sure -"

Warren rolled his eyes. "Dad, you've been teaching me business since I was little. You got me into one of the best business and accounting schools in the country, and I graduated top of the class. Don't worry, I can handle this."

There was a moment of long silence, and then his father spoke again. "You're right, I just… you're right, I know you can handle it. I'll send a message to Tom Blackwell today, and have him get in contact with you," he said, referring to one of the family's personal financial lawyers.

"Thanks dad. I… Recently someone here inspired me to do something, and I need that money to do it. Right now it's just an idea I'm developing, but if I didn't know I would have access to the money for it, it would've been a waste of time."

"What is it?"

"I'm still trying to figure that out, dad. When I come by home to visit I'll have planned it out more, and I'll run it by you to see what you think."

He could hear the reluctance in his father's voice, but he knew he wouldn't push it. "Alright Warren. I'll send that message to Blackwell, okay?"

"Alright. Thanks, dad. I'll… I'll talk to you later then?"

"Sure – later. Goodbye Warren."

"Bye dad," Warren said softly, and hung up the phone.

His father had been the last person he'd wanted to speak with at the moment, but now he was glad he did, it had cleared up the air a bit between the two of them.

Once he got through everything with Blackwell, he needed to talk to Charles, to see it his thoughts were feasible, and possibly even get his support behind it, Warren thought as he pocketed the cell phone, and then leapt from the roof. His wings spread out to fill with air and let him glide away from the mansion toward the glistening lake nearby.

* * *

Ororo muttered under her breath as she wrestled the tree toward the hole she'd just finished digging for it, using her still-clean forearm to wipe at the sweat on her forehead.

She began to lift it again, and it suddenly became weightless and floated from her shocked hands over to the hole.

"Need a hand?" Came Jean's amused voice from behind her.

Ororo smiled and turned to face her red-haired friend. "Thanks. Wish I'd realized it was going to be so heavy before I dug the hole thirty feet away from it." Ororo said, brushing her hands together to try to knock the dirt off of them.

"Probably a good thing to remember – next time you might not have a telekinetic friend around to help," she said, moving closer to Ororo.

Ororo nodded. "So, what brings you out and about, Jean? Don't normally see you out on the grounds." She asked, curiosity in her voice.

"Your friend Remy, actually."

Ororo rolled her eyes. "What's he done now?" she asked, exasperated.

Jean laughed. "Oh, nothing like that. I ran into him the other day, and he sorta gave me a reality check. I realized what a recluse I've become, and how much time I've spent hiding from all of you when I shouldn't be. So – this is me. Recovering, or trying to, at least, without brooding." She said, spreading her arms outward.

Ororo's face split into a wide smile. "Well that's good to hear," she said, pulling Jean into a hug. "I've been worried about you."

Jean looked sheepishly at her. "I was too. But I'm getting there. Still… hurts, you know?"

Ororo nodded, and touched her friend's shoulder. "I know, honey. It's been years – I was just a dumb teenager back then, but… I know how it feels. But you know Scott wouldn't want you locking yourself in your room for the rest of your life."

Jean's eyes widened slightly at the hint of images that Ororo unconsciously broadcast at her statement of knowing how it feels – she'd lost someone too: something she'd never told her about. But she decided not to press her on it.

"Yeah, I know."

"So, how's… how's the work with Charles coming."

Jean swallowed visibly. "Better than I thought, at least. I don't feel so helpless and out of control. We're rebuilding walls he built when I was young to help me deal with it all. Slow going, but… I think I'm about where I was before Alkali Lake."

She shrugged and shook her head. "But how about you? How are you doing?"

"Great actually," Ororo said, smiling.

"So I hear Logan took you on a date. How was it?" Jean asked.

Ororo chewed on her lip, looking at her friend with apprehension. "It was nice. He… we went to a bar, but it was actually pretty good."

Jean rolled her eyes. "Sounds exactly like Logan. So – you two are an item now?

"Yeah, I guess we are. Are you… okay with that?" Ororo asked hesitantly.

Jean sighed, and wrapped her arms around herself. "Yeah. You deserve a good guy, 'Roro. I'm – I know Logan liked me, and I admit I was attracted by him, but… Scott – he meant so much to me, and I don't know how long it will take for me to move on. Hell, I don't even know if I've accepted that he's dead yet," she said, a tear skimming down her cheek.

Ororo pulled her friend into a hug, and ran a comforting hand up and down her back. "I know, it's hard to believe he's gone. But you can't let it keep eating at you. You have to accept it and live like he'd want you to."

Jean sniffed, and pulled back, her fingers wiping at her cheeks. "I know."

She cleared her throat and blinked her eyes. "So… do you need help planting anything else?" She asked quietly.

"Sure, if you're up to it, I've got two more to do – you can help me dig the holes for them," Ororo said, interlocking her arm with Jean's and leading her back to the garage, where the other trees rested in the back of one of the school vans.

* * *

When the assault took place, it happened quickly – too quickly for most of those in the convoy to respond. The fact that only the lead and rear vehicles contained military personnel, and the rest of the convoy was made of unarmed scientists and engineers, only helped that.

The convoy had made it out of Arizona, and through the most treacherous part of its trip through the Rocky Mountains, and through the long and monotonous drive through Kansas, Missouri, and Indiana, and had just passed over the state line from Kentucky into West Virginia, when they'd been forced to halt for an overturned cattle truck.

The weather was bad, rain pouring down for the last thirty miles they'd driven, and those in the convoy had assumed the truck had skidded out or hydroplaned on the wet roads.

The trailer had flipped some fifty feet ahead of them, and the driver was out, trying to get the cattle that had escaped the trailer with little injury off of the road so people could pass.

The 'accident' had been preplanned however, and so had the attack, which was two-pronged, hitting the lead and rear vehicles at the same time. Men dressed in thick coats appeared suddenly through the thick walls of rain, energy beams blasting out of concealed muzzles in their sleeves, the unprepared men were no match for the S.H.I.E.L.D. energy weapons – none of them even got off a shot before they died.

Boss – as he was known to the men – bent against the downpour, and made his way to the first vehicle filled with shocked and frightened civilians. One of the figures, a tall and barrel-chested man, hopped out with his hands raised above his head, until Boss gestured for him to lower them.

"About time you came," Stephen Lang said. "I was beginning to think we'd make it back to D.C. without your boys hitting the convoy."

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled. "We had to find the right place, so quit complaining. Besides, less distance to base this way."

"Actually, there's a change of plans. We're taking two of the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s to the base, to test out my new programming. The rest are going with all the plans back to the Montana base. Maldrone wants them in lockdown to begin manufacturing."

Boss groaned. "Fine, he'll just have to pay more for travel expenses." Boss gestured at the several dozen vehicles, and his men quickly moved to surround each one. "Anyone here worth keepin' alive?"

Stephen's lip turned upward in disgust. "No. I was hoping we could take Trask with us and force him to keep working on the units, upgrades and all that, but he flew back early to D.C.. We can grab him some other time if we need him."

Boss nodded, and gestured with his hand across his throat, and his men opened up with their beam weapons into the small jeeps filled with technicians and engineers, and the drivers of the trailers were yanked out and executed on the spot.

Minutes later, only Stephen, Boss, and his men were left, and the rain had let up to a gentle but steady downpour. Stephen moved through the group, assigning men to the trailers. There were five of the large trailers, each containing a drop pod with its own S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. inside, all covered with thick tarps to look like simply another military convoy across the country.

Lang moved over to the Master Mold trailer, and entered, stepping over several technicians that lay on the floor. He punched a series of commands into the main computer, and a five-minute countdown appeared on all the computer screens.

"What's that?" Boss asked.

"Self destruct sequence. This trailer's equipped with a large thermal bomb that will gut the interior – we put it in in case of enemy takeover of the trailer."

"You're destroying it?" Boss asked with surprise.

"Yes. It's the only thing they have that can track the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s, and its frame is laced with GPS devices and beacons. If we brought that with us, they'd find us in minutes. Besides, I've made my own Master Mold command center, and it's a hell of a lot better than that cramped thing. Oh, we might want to leave. Soon. That explosive device will wipe out everything in a hundred yard radius."

Boss' eyes widened, and he yelled out commands to his men, who quickly hopped into the cabs of the trailers, and started them up. Three turned on the road and headed back the way they'd come – going to Montana – and the other two idled near Boss and Stephen.

"See you back at base," Stephen said, climbing into the passenger side of one of the enormous trailer cabs as Boss climbed into the other.

Several minutes later, as they turned off the main road and onto a side road that would take them well away from most civilization, Lang smiled in satisfaction when he saw a fireball light up the sky behind them.

A little bit of reprogramming, with the AI he'd been developing as he created the one used by DARPA, and Maldrone's manufacturing, and they'd have an unstoppable army of loyal mutant hunters at their side, he thought with a broadening grin.

* * *

**A/N**: _Hey everyone, hope y'all liked it. Bit more action packed than some of the recent chapters. Wasn't until mid-week that I decided exactly what would happen on the X-Force mission, and when I decided to put in the Living Monolith. Yes, in the comics several of his appearances were linked with Scott's brother, Alex Summers, but here I moved away from that a bit. That isn't to say Alex won't appear in the future though – you never know who might pop in in the sequel. ;) So…. The Trask here isn't a bad guy, simply a robotics expert, but we see Creed's mole is really Lang (involved with the Sentinels somewhat in the comics)._

_So, I also spent the last few days mapping out for certain the last chapters. There will be five more chapters: next chapter (31) will not be so action packed, but we will finally learn what Warren is up to, and see the youngsters as well as the college kids panic as finals occur; the following three chapters will be amongst the most action-packed of the story, and the final chapter will be a bit of an epilogue/recovery from the previous three._

_Hurrah for breaking 300,000 words by my 30th chapter! I'll likely be at or above 350,000 when this story finishes, so around 10,000 words a chapter average. And I'm sure the sequel will be comparable in length. :)_

_So – five more chapters, and then it's off to the sequel. See you guys next week!_


	31. Chapter 31: Development

_**Disclaimer: X-Men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-Men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway ;)**_

_A/N:Hey everyone, thanks for the great feedback last chapter. This chapter we get to see plenty of character interaction, a bit more on some lesser-explored characters, and of course some ROMY fun. Oh, and a few discrete nods to some comic book characters – see if you can catch them! :D Anyway, enjoy, and please review, let me know what you think!_

**Chapter 31: Development**

* * *

"Hey Neena," Logan said, moving around the table she sat at. "Red alright for you?" He asked, placing a tall glass in front of her.

"Logan," she said with a smile, the low lights of the New York City bar emphasizing the dark skin around her eye, and the purplish-black lipstick against her pale white skin.

"I was wondering if you'd make it," she said, eyeing the deep reddish beer with a tall head of foam in front of her. "I'll drink anything, long as you're still buyin'."

Logan chuckled, and sat across the small table from her, taking a sip of his own glass. "Yeah, yeah, I'm still buyin'."

"Good." She took a long gulp of her beer, and swiped at her mouth with the back of her hand.

"You know… you guys surprised me the other day – with the Abdol thing I mean. Well, not really you – I knew you could handle yourself, but the other three I'd been a bit leery of. Figured they'd need a lot of training time with us – I guess your Professor's taking things a bit more seriously than I thought to train them like that."

Logan shrugged and played with his glass. "Well, the Cajun can take care of himself pretty good. Nearly kicked my ass when we first met, an' he'd taken several bullets and lost a few liters of blood at the time. From what I can gather he's been in some serious shit in the past."

He shook his head. "And Rogue, 'specially since she got her new powers, can handle things pretty well. She's been in a lot of stuff with the team since I met her."

Domino nodded. "I'd heard. Ellis Island, the Mutant Blackout, Alcatraz. Still, hadn't been sure how she'd handle things."

Logan grunted. "Only one I was wonderin' about was Kurt. Guess he's a bit more experienced then I thought."

"And he seems to fit in just as well." She said.

"We're a hardy bunch, Neena. Glad we're with you now, plenty more opportunities. I… I'm glad to run into you again, even if it's been years."

She smiled, her lips quivering slightly. "Me too."

"So, what happened? I wanna know everythin', darlin'. When'd John die?"

Domino looked down at her glass. John, while he was really only her stepfather, had been more of a parent to her than either her mother or her real biological father. Her genetic father had run out on the family before she was born, and her mother became an alcoholic after she gave birth to her.

Her mother was abusive, harsh, abrasive, and nearly always drunk or on her way to that state – Domino wouldn't dare try to count the times she'd had empty liquor bottles thrown at her, or been given bloody lips for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.

Her mother had met John when Domino was six. He'd seen something in the woman, and tried to get her clean, and even succeeded for a few short months for their wedding, until she died just months after of cancer that had begun in the liver. John hadn't abandoned Neena after that, and had become everything her biological parents hadn't been, the first time she'd been truly loved and cared for.

"Few months after you left." She finally said. "It was a robbery. Some couple was getting held up, an' he passed them on his way back home from work. He tried to stop it – you know how he was, always trying to make things right – an' he got shot for his trouble, left to die." She swiped at a single tear as it tried to escape her eye. "Didn't even get to say a proper goodbye – he'd already been pronounced dead by the time the police called me, never saw his body until the funeral."

Logan grimaced. "Shit. I'm sorry, Neena. He was a great guy."

She nodded, and forced herself to continue. "There was no one else for me. Well, there was my mom's sister, but she wanted nothing to do with me. So I got put in a kid's home for a few months until they got through all the legal stuff and started putting me in foster homes."

"I'll admit, I was a pretty difficult kid, but for the most part none of them could handle that when you added in the being a mutant part. I think my record for shortest stay was two days before that couple sent me back." She said, rolling her eyes.

Logan reached out his hand and placed it on top of hers. "Sorry. Wish I'd been there. Even if I wouldn't have been the best parent to ya, 'least I wouldn' have shuffled you from home ta home like that."

She gave him a warm smile. "I know Logan, but you can't change the past."

She downed the rest of her glass. "I finally got fed up with it, just before my fifteenth birthday. It was when they put me in this one home – the couple were members of the Church of Humanity, must've been just a year after they started up."

She shook her head. " I realized they were starting to just get desperate, tossing me with anyone. Guess I was too much trouble, and they just wanted to throw me anywhere and ignore it until I was a legal adult and they'd be rid of me."

"Cheryl and George," Domino grimaced. "That was the couple, still remember them clearly. Started off pullin' the whole 'mutants are an abomination' sermon, and even took me to their church where they could get their buddies to insult me. When he started hitting me…. That was the last straw. I was gone that night, I took some money they had stashed and ran."

"I was on the streets after that, nearly a month. Started up a sort of street performer business – you know, games of chance, card tricks, that sort of thing."

She smiled, her eyes unfocused in remembrance. "That's when I met Nathan – ran into him at one of my favorite street corners. He was in his early twenties, but there was something…. hard… about him. Reminded me of you, and John, so I tried to get him involved in my game."

"He was amused by my claims that I'd call every dice roll – that's what I was doing by that point. He figured I'd rigged my dice so he went to this dollar store nearby, got his own dice." She chuckled. "He lost a good three hundred dollars to me before he gave up. He realized I must be a mutant – he was too – and the next day he came back and asked if I wanted a job."

"Guess he'd been in the Army – got discharged when he saved his squad by revealing he was a mutant – and then he got into the bounty-hunting, mercenary business. So he took me on as his apprentice."

"I was with him 'till about three years ago when we went separate ways. He's off somewhere in Africa, private merc company. I wanted to stay in the States, and break away for a bit to start my own career, and that's when Nick found me."

She tapped her fingers against her empty glass. "That's my story. Why don't you get us some more, and you tell me how you've been?"

Logan nodded and stood up, and moments later he was back, this time with a darker brown ale for each of them.

He leaned back in his chair. "Well, my story's probably not quite as colorful as yours, but it's close. I left you guys because someone I knew, someone I got sent to prison, had just got out on 'good behavior', and I heard he was huntin' for me, and I didn't want you two t'get hurt."

"Moved around for a while, till he caught up with me in Minnesota, and we settled our score."

Domino raised her eyebrow. "Settled it?"

Logan grunted. "Yeah – I'm still here, he isn't. To be fair he certainly tried, but I heal pretty quick from a few shotgun rounds to the chest. Claws to his didn't heal quite so fast." He said grimly.

"That was about a year after I left, and by then I was gettin' by on my own, didn' want t'burden you or any of my other friends, so I moved along. Odd jobs here an' there, movin' companies, bodyguard, that sort of stuff."

"Ended up headin' to Canada. Don' know why, just had this sort of pull to there, like I belonged there. Somethin' in my past maybe."

Her eyes softened, knowing that he could remember little of his early life. "Could be. You find anything?"

He shook his head. "No. I moved from city to city, eventually ran into this couple that worked for a Canadian mutant team - called themselves Department Alpha. All covert – this was back before governments admitted they had 'em. We became friends an' I joined up. I spent about a year or so doin' that."

"Eventually Britain came out as the first country to reveal their team, but Canada kept hidin' theirs, an' when some documents got leaked the public was pretty angry at it bein' hidden like that, so they disbanded the team. Wasn' till last year they started one up again." He said with a shake of his head.

"After that I was wanderin' again, mainly small towns. Found cage matches, they were a good way of takin' out my aggression, and keepin' me fed, so I started goin' to bars an' underground bettin' places an' fightin' in those."

"This one town, I met Rogue – she was runnin' because of her powers – an' ended up lettin' her ride with me. We got attacked by one of Magneto's goons, th'X-Men stepped in, an' that's how I ended up at Xavier's."

"So you're settled there now? Done being a vagabond?" She asked, a hint of dubiousness in her voice.

Logan stared off at the wall behind her for nearly a full minute before answering. "Yeah," he said, slightly surprised himself at the conclusion he'd come to. "Yeah, I think I'm done. Chuck's helped me get some answers on my past, an' there're a lot of people there I care about. An' now there's this thing, an' meetin' you again. I'm not leavin'."

Domino gave him a pleased smile. "Good."

He nodded slightly, and looked away. "So. There a Mister Domino 'round here? Boyfriend or somethin'?"

She blushed slightly. "No, there's not. Not that I'd tell you if there was: you'd probably track him down an' scare the life out of him."

Logan laughed. "Probably. So there really isn't anyone? Not even Jamie? Thought you might have a bit of a thing, way you teased him."

She flushed even brighter. "Logan!" She said indignantly. "No, I don't have a thing for him. We're just teammates. Sure he's cute, but he's just not my type."

"An' what's your type?" He asked, amused by her reaction.

"Guys who remind me of you," she said, winking at him. "You know I had a crush on you back then?"

It was Logan's turn to blush. "N-no, I didn't. Neena, you don't still…"

She laughed and swatted his arm. "Don't worry, it was just a young girl thing – I had a crush on my English teacher then too. That doesn't mean I'm not attracted to men that act like you. It's just – you're a bit too old for me," she said, wrinkling her nose.

Logan grumbled at the last part, and grabbed his beer, ignoring her trying to hold in her laughter.

"L-Logan," she said, trying to compose herself.

"Yeah?"

She gestured over to where a group of men were playing darts, some of them visibly drunk. "What d'ya say, you want to go win all their money?" She asked, grinning wickedly.

He downed the last gulp of his beer, and watched them for a minute. "Yeah." He said, a laugh in his voice.

* * *

"_Non_, you guys don' have to worry 'bout dat," Remy said. "I barely been teachin' here, an' anyway I don' know what I'd have you do for an' end of semester exam for shop class. Y'all got enough on y'minds with de tests in your other classes, so dere won't be a test for dis class."

Carter – who had asked the question – and the others in the garage looked relieved at his answer. Remy had seen a number of students, especially those in the high-school class, beginning to panic as the last week of the school year arrived, and with it tests in each of their classes, and decide not to burden them further.

Remy stood up from where he'd been leaning against one of the workbenches, and clapped his hands together. "Alrigh', dat's all I got – I'll let you out early today so y'got some more time for studyin'. It's been fun teachin' you guys – you've all been great students. I'll still see most of you 'round de next few days an' at de of de week, an' some of you dis summer if you stay 'round."

A small cheer went up amongst the students at being let out early, and they began to file out of the room.

Rahne walked over to him, smiling.

"Hey Rahne, what's up?" Remy asked her.

"Thank ye for teachin' us, Professor Gambit." Rahne said. "Are ye going to teach next year?" She asked softly.

"You're welcome, Rahne. An' I'm plannin' to still teach. Not sure exactly what I'll be teachin', but I'll be here."

"Good," she said, leaning forward to give him a quick hug before pulling away and blushing brightly. "Yuir my fav'rite teacher," she said, and then turned and darted from the room.

Remy chuckled to himself as he watched the redheaded girl go. He'd seen her come out of her shell quite a bit since he'd arrived, and especially after Sarah and Jimmy had befriended her, but she was still rather shy from time to time, especially around adults.

He flicked off the switches on the wall, shutting off the bank of lights in the garage, and moved back into the mansion and found Sarah waiting for him by the computer lab.

"Hey _petite_, how you doin'?" He asked her.

She'd been a slightly reserved for the rest of the day after he'd told her about the Tunnels – which had worried him slightly despite her reassurances that she didn't care about what he'd done – but she had been back to her normal self on Sunday, simply needing a little bit of time to fully assimilate what he'd told her about the Tunnels.

"Good," she said, smiling. "A little tired of gettin' ready for the tests."

Remy nodded, and placed his arm around her shoulders. "You still sure you want t'do dis? You came in pretty late, barely a month of class b'fore dese tests. I c'n still talk to de Professor 'bout lettin' you out of takin' dem."

She shook her head, and looked up at him as they walked out to the main hall. "No, it's fine, Remy. I'm doin' okay, I just hafta keep studyin' to make sure I'm caught up. An' your flash cards are helpin' me a lot too."

"Alrigh', _ma mignonne_, if you're sure. You need any more of dose cards or jus' want m'help, let me know."

She nodded. "Well, I have my first test – in Storm's History class – tomorrow mornin', so can you make me a big breakfast?"

Remy grinned down at her. "Of course, already planned it, _petite_."

"Alright – I might have ya quiz me later tonight, too." She stopped walking at the entertainment room. "I'm gonna meet Rahne, Sally, an' Jimmy. We're studyin' together, an' now we've got a half an hour before our next classs b'cause you let us out early."

Remy leaned down and kissed her forehead. "Alright', see you later, _petite_. Have fun, or 'least as much fun as studyin' can be," he said, and she giggled as he watched her turn and walk up to the slightly closed door and enter the room where her friends already were.

* * *

Remy wiped the sweat that was beading on his brow from the intense heat. "Damn good weather for this," he said to Logan who stood next to him.

The weather outside was warm, a sign of the coming summer, and just cloudy and breezy enough to keep it comfortable. '_Perfect grilling weather_,' Remy thought to himself.

"Yeah, it is." Logan said, leaning forward with his metal spatula to flip several burgers.

They were standing in front of an enormous grill – similar in size to the grills he often saw at big tailgate parties that could be hitched up to a truck and driven around.

The metal of the grill in front of them was covered in burgers, hot dogs, bratwurst, and even a number of large portobello mushrooms.

"Are we about ready?" Ororo asked, coming up between the two of them and slinging her arms around their shoulders.

"_Oui_, we got some well done, some medium, an' a few rare, an' everythin' else is about ready t'come off." Remy said.

Ororo nodded, and then walked around the grill to face the expansive grounds of the mansion. The kids were playing basketball, tag, Remy had even seen a small game of dodgeball going on past the basketball court. Those that weren't playing were sitting around, talking with one another.

It was the last day of school, the exams were finished, and Xavier had conscripted Logan and Remy to man the grill for a cookout/party that was apparently a tradition at the mansion.

Of course, they'd had to haul the grill out from storage in a corner of the garage. That had been an unpleasant task due to its size and weight, and once they'd hauled it out to where it stood now, Remy had just about slapped himself in the forehead at not asking Rogue for help.

"Alright everyone! Food's ready, get in line!" Ororo said, her voice echoing out across the field.

Remy grinned slightly to himself – she'd done it more than once to him, tugging at the wind and air currents to amplify and direct her voice, although it was mainly when she was angry, at least when he was on the receiving end.

The noise quickly died down as the students all hurried over toward the long tables to grab the plates resting there along with a large assortment of chips, watermelon slices and other fruit, and buns, and then brought them over to Remy and Logan to be served the food of their choice.

* * *

Remy wiped his fingers on a napkin and set aside the empty paper plate. "Nothin' like a summer barbecue, eh _Chére_?"

Rogue nodded, glancing up from a textbook that lay near her as she finished off the rest of the chips on her plate. "Yeah, Ah miss 'em. Mah daddy used to have half the neighborhood over ev'ry few weeks for a Sunday cookout like this durin' th'summer. An' if it wasn' that, we'd be over at someone else's cookout."

Sarah smiled wistfully on the other side of Remy where they sat on the cool grass of the lawn near the basketball hoops, various groups of students and teachers spread out around them. Ororo had brought Jean to the event, and Jean was catching up with both Ororo and with Hank, who she'd not even seen since he'd come to the mansion.

Sarah grabbed Remy's now-free hand. "That was tasty, Remy. You should make burgers more often. I didn' even need ketchup or anythin' on them."

Remy grinned. "Dat's how dey should be. Just a bit of seasonin' before dey cook, an' if you cook it right dere's more'n enough juices so y'don' need anythin' else. I c'n cook dem more often if y'want."

Sarah grinned. "Good."

"She's right, you and Logan are pretty good cooks," Lorna said, from where she sat across from them, near Jubilee and Dani.

"_If you'll excuse me for a moment, I'd like to say a few words_," Xavier's voice echoing in their heads for a moment got everyone's attention, their gazes turning to him.

He cleared his throat. "Thank you. Yet another year has passed, and another year of school is over. I'd like to thank all of you for being excellent students."

"I'd also like to thank those who taught this year, especially those who have filled in for some absences and gaps we've had the last few months."

A short round of applause broke out amongst the students after that, and Xavier waited until they'd quieted once more before continuing.

"For many of you, this day marks the end of your time here until school starts again in the fall, and I wish all of you safe journeys home. To those who are staying, I'm glad to accommodate you, and I believe we may hold some short summer courses to keep you occupied, if you're interested."

"In either case, all of you will be back here this fall at the beginning of the next semester, and you will be back to a very changed school. You will have at least fifty new classmates, of varying ages, attending with you."

"We've been a small school, and in just a few months, our size will nearly double. There will be many changes to class structure, many new classes you can elect to take, and new teachers."

"I'm sure next year will be just as fruitful as the one we've now ended, as we begin to see the future of both our school, and relations with mutants and humankind. I hope you all have a good summer, and I'll see you next semester," He concluded with a smile as the students applauded.

The party wound down soon after, and people began to get up to throw out their plates, and say their final goodbyes for the summer.

Remy shot a smile at Rogue, and leaned over to kiss her cheek. "Jus' think, _Chére_, you'll be done dis time next week, an' we'll have de summer to ourselves."

Rogue blushed at the look he gave her when he said that. "Ah know. Just a lot of tests b'fore that." She glanced over to Lorna. "Hey Lorna, you're stayin' this summer too, right?"

She nodded. "That's the plan. Who else is staying?"

Rogue shrugged. "Not sure. Ah think Bobby is. Warren too. Jubes is goin' back to California for a few weeks an' then comin' back. Kitty, Pete, an' Dani are all gonna be gone for most of the summer Ah think – lot's of the younger kids too. School'll feel a lot smaller with 'em all gone."

Lorna smiled. "Well, if you go riding anytime, let me know. I kinda liked it."

"Sure thing," Rogue said grinning. "Poor horses need more exercise. B'fore you, Remy, an' Sarah, it was jus' me, Dani, an' sometimes Sam that would get 'em a good ride."

Remy nodded. "You're always welcome, Lorna." Then he smirked slightly. "I'll let y'go, looks like Warren's waitin' t'talk wit' ya," he said, nodding to where Warren stood near Kurt, talking with him while darting furtive looks in her direction.

Lorna blushed. "Alright, see you guys later," she said, quickly standing and grabbing her plate before making her way toward the two.

Sarah suddenly stood up, and dashed several feet away to pull Rahne into a hug. "Bye, Rahne, I'll miss ya. Y'should get me your address, an' we can write each other over the summer,"

Rahne returned the hug, a large smile on her face. "Really? Ye'd like tae? Aye, that sounds fun, Sarah. I'll miss ye an' the others."

Remy felt a slight tingle on his skin and then felt his powers subside, and he glanced behind him to see Jimmy standing nearby.

The young boy was startled when Rahne ran over to hug him as well. "G'bye, Jimmy. Yuir a good friend – I'll see ye in the fall," she said.

He smiled warmly. "Bye, Rahne. Have a good time at home."

Rahne pulled back, looking somewhat embarrassed. "I'm goin' tae mail Sarah durin' the summer. Would ye like me tae send ye letters too?"

Jimmy grinned. "Sure."

Rahne suddenly gasped as she spotted someone walking toward the mansion behind him. "_Och_, I have tae say goodbye to Dani before I leave! See ye in a few months, I'll write," she said, running off past him toward Dani.

Remy exchanged a grin with Rogue, when Sarah moved over to Jimmy's side and started talking with him.

Remy then stood up, stretching as he did so. He reached down and grabbed Rogue's hand, pulling her to her feet. "Alrigh', _Chére_, jus' one more thing, an' I'll let you get back to studyin', _hein_?"

"An' what's that?" She asked warily.

"Well, I was wonderin' if my big strong girlfriend wouldn't mind movin' de grill back to de garage for me," he said, grinning.

Rogue rolled her eyes. "Alrigh', if you an' Logan can' handle it, Ah guess Ah can." She said with a slight smirk, and twinkle in her eye.

He placed a hand over his chest. "You wound me, _Chére_. Ain' dat we can' handle it, just thought it'd be easier if de girl dat can throw cars around did it. Dere'll be a reward." He said, leaning forward to kiss her lips. "Maybe several," he murmured as her eyes fluttered shut.

"Mmm… _Better_ be several. But t'morrow, after mah tests. You'll distract me too much from studyin' otherwise."

"You have a deal, _ma belle Chére_," he said, pulling back slightly, to give her an exaggerated bow.

She smacked him on the back of the head, and thrust her textbook into his hands. "C'mon swamprat, let's move this grill."

* * *

"Haha! I _loved_ the look on Julian's face when he asked if you'd think about going on a date with him going this fall, and you said that between him and his ego, there wasn't room for a third person in the relationship," Mindee giggled, clinging to the arm of her sister, Celeste.

Celeste grinned, and Phoebe, the third of the psychic triplets, nodded in agreement next to them, a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter as they walked down the main hallway of the mansion.

"I know, I thought his head was going to explode, he turned so red," Celeste said, laughing. "He's _so_ stuck up it isn't even funny, and you'd think he's learned, trying to get us to date him. Sometimes I wonder if he even knows that it's me he's asked the other two times, or if he can't tell us apart and thinks he's asking each of us."

Phoebe's eyes widened at that. "You know, I bet he can't –"

She broke off as they entered the living room, and found that it was occupied – the large, African-American teen they'd seen around the mansion sitting on one of the couches, his legs crossed, and hands laid out on them, palms up in a meditative position.

"Oh, sorry, we didn't think anyone would be here," Celeste said when he slowly opened his eyes and looked up at the trio. "We can go, if you'd like."

He shook his head, the light gleaming off the silver-grey lines tattooed across his skin, and spoke – his voice deep. "No, you are welcome here. I was just meditating. It helps me clear my mind and control my powers."

"You sure?" Mindee asked, and he nodded, so they walked further into the room, settling down next to one another on a couch nearby.

"I am Nezhno," he said, inclining his head in greeting to the girls.

"Hi," Celeste said. "I'm Celeste, this is Mindee, and this is Phoebe. Don't worry if you can't tell us apart, just say one of our names and we'll answer, we're pretty used to it."

A small smile appeared on his face. "I can see why. So you are not leaving for the summer? Not going home?"

Phoebe shook her head. "No, _this_ is our home," she said gesturing at the room and the mansion around them.

Mindee nodded. "We grew up in an orphanage until Professor Xavier found us. We don't have a family that we know of. Even when the Professor tried to investigate he couldn't find out who dropped us off at the orphanage or really find any record of us. No one reported us missing at least."

Nezhno frowned. "I am sorry."

Celeste shrugged. "It's alright. We're our own family. What about you? I know you're pretty new here, are you going home?"

He shook his head. "No. My mother was killed by the Purifiers, and my father died several years ago. And I would not be welcome in my mother's home country. Her family believes she dishonored them by marrying a Russian man instead of one of her own people. Professor Xavier has offered to let me stay here and attend college."

"Wow." Mindee said.

"Pretty harsh." Celeste agreed.

Nezhno nodded. "Yes, I find much of the culture here in the United States to be more… palatable, I think is the right word, to me. But, then that may be partly due to how my mother and father raised me."

"Well, how are you settling in around here? Do you have questions about anything?" Phoebe asked him.

He shook his head. "No, your Professor has answered any questions I've had. I am.. 'settling' alright," he said – his syntax and hesitation at certain words made the triplets realize English hadn't been his first language.

"I came with Lorna – we were both prisoners of the Purifiers for some time and came to know one another, but I have not met or talked to many people around the mansion. They seem to be intimidated by me – perhaps by my size," he said, gesturing at his large body with a hint of embarrassment on his face.

Celeste nodded. "Yeah, probably. You're like the tallest, biggest person here. Used to be Piotr, but you're bigger than him. Give it some time, and try approaching other people and that might help," she said with a smile. "This summer there will be fewer here, so they'll be more likely to run into you. And if you'd like to talk, at least one of us is always around."

His face broke into a genuine white-toothed smile. "Thank you."

Mindee looked curiously at him. "So what are your powers? All those tattoos?"

He shook his head. "No, they are actually there because of my powers. I am extremely strong, and I can increase my muscle mass and size and become stronger. But… It is not very healthy for me to do so – I get seizures afterwards. The tattoos are made with a pigment that contains a special metal found in my country that absorbs energy and slowly releases it, so they help me keep control. Along with the meditation of course."

Mindee nodded, and frowned. "Well, we sort of know how that feels – it's not like we get seizures or anything, but we have telepathy, and our minds are linked. When it first manifested, we went into comas – it was just so hard to deal with the thoughts and emotions all around us. Our minds linked closer during the coma, and eventually we pulled each other out of it, and we've grown closer ever since – we can help each other block things out."

"That would be interesting, sharing your mind like that with others." Nezhno said.

Celeste nodded and laughed. "Yeah, sometimes it can be frustrating, knowing everything the others are thinking, but on the plus side, any fights between us are over pretty quickly. And when you think about it, it's sort of just an expansion of the close bond that siblings, especially those born at the same time like us, develop."

"We all like the same things, too – we usually dress the same so that's probably why everyone has trouble telling us apart-"

She broke off and looked over to the door where Dani was standing when she cleared her throat.

"Sorry you guys – Cessily was looking for you three to say goodbye? Her parents are here, and ready to take her home, and they want to get going, so…"

"Alright, thank you, Dani," Celeste said.

The three turned back to look to Nezhno. "Sorry, she's one of our best friends, we should get out there. See you around?" Celeste said

He nodded, smiling. "Thank you for taking the time to talk to me. Other than Lorna, Gambit, and some of the teachers, I've not really spoken with anyone for some time."

"It's not a problem at all, Nezhno – It was nice to meet you. We'll leave you some quiet to meditate," Mindee said smiling before the three left the room arm in arm.

Nezhno watched them with amusement as the door closed behind them. He then slowly let his eyes close, his tattoos beginning to glow slightly as he slipped back into his meditative trance, allowing him to slowly purge his excess energy through the safe medium of the metal pigment of the lines tattooed across his body.

* * *

"Hey Sugah," Rogue said, her face lighting up with a smile as Remy entered the slightly opened door of her room.

She was lying on her bed, an open notebook resting on her lap, her finger resting on the spot she'd been last reading.

"Hey _Chére_, how you holdin' up?" He asked.

She shrugged tiredly. "Alright. Ah'm pretty tired now."

"You look it," Remy said. He noted the dark circles under her eyes, and how she looked about ready to fall asleep.

She smiled weakly. "At least Ah've got three of mah five classes done. Now Ah can spend more time on the other exams."

While she still had a final scheduled on Monday and one on Tuesday, the college also held exams on Saturdays, and she and most of the others had just gotten back from a grueling schedule of three of their final exams on a single day – one early in the morning, one just after lunch, and the other ending an hour ago at eight-o'clock at night.

Apparently the exams were scheduled differently each semester, and they'd had the misfortune of having the classes that were bunched together for Saturday finals.

Aside from briefly at breakfast, it was the first he'd seen of her since yesterday. He knew she'd been up late Friday night – possibly all night – because he'd visited and Carol had been studying. Then Rogue and the others had stayed on-campus between exams to study up for each next one.

"How'd they go?" He asked.

She shrugged. "Alright Ah guess. Should be gettin' at least a 'B' on them all."

Remy walked over to her bed, and sat down on the edge of it next to her before he leaned over and kissed her cheek gently.

His eyes slid over her, and he noticed then what she was wearing. "So you usin' my clothes for y'pajamas now?" He asked with a slight grin.

She blushed and glanced down at the long poker-themed t-shirt and the boxers he'd given her the day after she'd absorbed Carol. "Yeah, Ah hope yah don' mind. After we got back from your apartment that day, Ah just tossed them in mah laundry pile, an' Ah didn' even remember Ah had them 'till this week when Ah got around to doin' laundry. Decided they're pretty comfy for sleepin' in…."

Remy shook his head, his eyes locked on her long bare legs. "_Non_, I don' mind one bit, _Chére_. Y'look a damn sight better in them den I ever could."

He broke his gaze from her legs, and shifted to lean back against the headboard next to her. As his legs swung up onto the bed next to hers, she tensed visibly at his proximity to her bare legs.

He glanced at her knowingly, and scooted even closer to press his right leg against her left, and she relaxed at the feeling of his jeans.

"Sorry," she muttered softly, glancing down at the notebook in her lap.

"S'okay, Rogue." He said just as softly.

He reached down and grabbed the notebook from her, tossed it onto her desk chair against her protests, and grabbed her gloved hand. "Enough studyin'. You're gonna burn out."

He reached out and cupped her chin with his hand and turned her face to his, leaning forward to kiss her gently, the tip of his tongue flickering across her lips and teeth.

She sighed contentedly and leaned fully against him, returning the kiss with as much enthusiasm as she could muster. Which, unfortunately, wasn't a lot given the fact that she'd spent the last two days awake and studying, aside from a four-hour break Carol had insisted on giving her.

Her hands sparked with purplish energy much sooner than usual because of her lack of concentration, and Remy quickly grasped them and returned the charge in them to himself.

Remy pulled back, and grinned when she made a small frustrated noise in the back of her throat at the loss of contact. "You're exhausted, _ma Chére_. We'll have plenty of time for dis after your exams."

She pouted half-heartedly. "You're right. Can Ah have one more goodnight kiss, though?"

He chuckled, and then left her breathless with a sudden kiss.

She sighed as he pulled back once more. "Hold me 'till Ah go to sleep?"

Remy nodded, and let her slide down the length of the bed until she was lying down fully, her head on her pillow. He did the same and turned on his side next to her so he could move his arm around her and pull her closely against his body.

She breathed in deeply against his chest, and closed her eyes in enjoyment at the warmth his body gave her. "G'night, Sugah."

"Good night," he said softly, his hand stroking the back of her head until she slipped off to sleep, and her breathing evened out against his chest.

Remy closed his eyes, and just laid there for several minutes, finally pulling away when he was sure she'd fallen completely asleep.

He rolled over onto his back, and reached a hand up to stroke across her cheek with his fingertips, the dim light of the room casting an almost ethereal glow across her skin.

He felt his chest tighten, and he smiled when she tried to roll closer to him, and then groaned in her sleep as he stood up from the bed and she felt the loss of contact.

He leaned down and planted a short, featherlight kiss on her lips. "_Fais de beaux rêves_." He whispered as he stood once more, to leave the room.

* * *

Warren looked up from the monitor of the school laptop he was typing on, at the television as the news hour closed with a story about mutants.

_"Now we have a rather shocking, and dare I say touching story from Oklahoma City, where our reporter Trish Tilby taped an interview on some events involving mutants that occurred early yesterday."_

_The screen switched to the pretty young reporter, standing near a graveyard, dressed smartly in a snug blouse and long skirt. "It's quiet here today at the Oklahoma City Wecha Cemetery, but things were much different this time yesterday."_

_"Recently Oklahoma City has been the site of one of the Cure distribution center bombings sweeping across the nation in recent weeks, and two mutants were killed in the recent bombing. Yesterday, the family of the mutants held a joint funeral service for the brother and sister that were killed while waiting in line to get the Cure."_

_"As we've reported, the Houston branch of the Church of Humanity has taken to protesting at these funerals, and this was no exception. A large group of church members used a bus owned by the church to transport themselves here for the funerals, and began to march around the small cemetery, chanting anti-mutant slogans, and holding signs, protesting the event as it began."_

_"The local police cordoned off the area, keeping them out of the cemetery itself and on a narrow path around the fence surrounding the cemetery while the service went on at the grave site."_

_"Then, shortly after the service ended and the family was left to say their final goodbyes as the coffins were lowered into the ground, a group of nearly fifty mutants and humans arrived in a bus chartered from a local company."_

_"This group, each member wearing a long piece of tape over their lips, and large metal cross necklaces, entered the protest route, and silently marched the opposite direction that the Church of Humanity group was moving."_

_"Our police sources say they were worried at one point when the two groups met, fearing an outbreak of violence between the groups, but the mutant group silently and calmly walked amongst the Church of Humanity members, ignoring a number of anti-mutant slurs shouted at them. The family left the cemetery shortly after, and the mutant croup left the same way they'd come, leaving what some describe as a very stunned Church of Humanity crowd."_

_"We requested an interview with the Houston church, but our calls were not returned. A number of photos were taken of the event by some onlookers, which can be seen here," she said, and the screen flickered as it showed a small slideshow of viewer-submitted pictures, showing the two groups meeting along the protest cordon._

_"We attempted to contact the mutants and humans of the second group, a small organization that calls itself _Genetic Equality, _made up of members from Oklahoma as well as nearby Texas, Kansas, and Missouri, but most declined our interviews."_

_"We did manage to speak to one young woman who was part of the counter-protest, who was willing to speak briefly with us – a young mutant named Heather Cameron who was there with her brother. Here is the clip where she describes in her own words, the meaning of the march."_

_The screen changed to show another recording, this one showing a close-up of the face of a pretty young woman with completely golden skin and identically colored hair that she wore held back by a red sweatband._

_"Several of our Houston members heard about the planned protest by the Church of Humanity, and we decided to organize a march of our own. We've been watching these poor families be humiliated, intimidated, and insulted by these so-called 'Christian' groups on the day they are burying their loved ones, and we felt we needed to get out there and show them they're not alone, and that there are people out there that understand what they're going through."_

_"Our silence, and the tape over our lips symbolizes the silent suffering of mutants and their families throughout this country under the bigotry and hatred tossed around by groups like the Church of Humanity. And our crosses, though not all of us are Christians, represent the real message of Jesus – Love for one another – which is appreciated by us all whether Christian or not."_

_"We'll do the same at any future protests, and I hope we can inspire others across the country to do the same. But we don't want to see rioting and fights – don't be mistaken. We follow philosophies set forth by Martin Luther King Jr. and by other great people throughout history, like Ghandi. Non-violent protest speaks volumes more than any sort of violence against these people."_

_The interview ended there, and went back to Trish. "So, we're seeing a new face to this mutant debate and protest issue, and we'll keep you up to date on any future events. Trish Tilby, reporting from Oklahoma City."_

_"Very interesting," the news anchor commented to the woman sitting next to him at the news desk. "That's unfortunately all the time we have today, but our CNN sister station is going to have a more in-depth discussion on Trish's report this evening on Anderson Cooper 360 if you're interested in hearing more. Have a good night, your local programming is up next."_

Warren switched off the television as a sitcom he didn't care for started playing its opening credits, and focused back on the laptop, and the document he was typing up before he went to Xavier with his idea. He now a fresh drive to get it done having seen the story and the interview with the young mutant woman about the small pro-mutant group.

* * *

"Jean?" Rogue asked when she saw the familiar red-head leaving the back door of the mansion.

Jean stopped as the door began to close, and grabbed it, looking back into the mansion at her. "Hi Rogue. I was just going to go for a walk. I'm feeling a little…. caged… right now, and wanted to get out. You want to come with?"

Rogue studied her face for a moment, and then nodded, and walked out the door, which Jean then let swing shut.

"So how're yah doin', Jean?" Rogue asked, shoving her hands in her back pockets as she walked along next to her.

"Pretty good, actually. Getting out has done wonders – wish I'd never holed up in my room like that."

Rogue smiled slightly. "Ah think Ah know what yah mean. Ah used t'do th'same, but Ah'm sure yah remember that. But ever since Remy came around, it's been like Ah've started a new life. Ah've become better friends with Dani, Piotr, all th'others, an' Ah don' hide away anymore."

Jean nodded. "That's good. It seems like he's been good for you. I have to say you're lucky. I knew him for a while back when Ororo was staying with him. He's… I don't know. He could be infuriating and cocky, but… those eyes, that grin of his, that _body_, the whole package can sort of take a girl's breath away."

Rogue smiled, her eyes glazing over slightly. "Ah know," she said in agreement. "Y'won' get any disagreement from me there," she said with a small laugh.

Jean shook her head. "God, he made Scott so jealous when he was flirting around…" She closed her eyes for a moment, and reached out to put a hand on Rogue's shoulder, changing her train of thought. "I'm a little surprised, actually, at how much Remy's changed. He seems to be a lot more settled down and mature."

Rogue chewed on her bottom lip for a moment. "Ah think it's Sarah."

Jean looked up at her curiously. "That girl that was hanging around you two at the cookout?"

Rogue nodded. "Remy saved her – Ah don't know if anyone ever got 'round to tellin' you about it but there was this big massacre a few months ago in New York. There was this group of mutants that had made a sort of community for outcast mutants in some tunnels left over from the Cold War, an' th'Purifiers hired these mercenaries to kill 'em all. She an' another girl here are the only two that made it out alive."

She smiled sadly. "Remy's been takin' care of her since then, an Ah think that might be th'thing that changed him the most. She's basically become part of his family, like a daughter."

Jean's eyes widened slightly, and she nodded. "That's probably it." She shook her head then. "So much has happened, it's crazy how it hits me when I hear about something else that happened while I was… well wherever the hell I was."

She raised an eyebrow then, and looked carefully at Rogue as she broached the next topic with her. "I don't think I ever really thanked you for stopping me that day in the lab. I hate to think what might have happened if you hadn't. Who I might have killed, what I might have done." She shivered slightly.

Rogue smiled slightly, and shrugged. "Yah welcome. Jus' did the first thing Ah could think of."

Jean's forehead creased, and she shot Rogue a look of concern. "Are you… doing alright? After she… after Phoenix was in your head?"

Rogue nodded. "Yeah, don' worry about it. Th'Professor got her outta there an' Ah think that he got everythin'. Haven't found any leftover bits at least. An'… She actually kinda helped, y'know? Ah mean, she did a lot of damage, but she burned away a lot of the psychic tangles in mah mind. It's sorta like a wildfire. It burns away all th'underbrush, an' keeps the forest healthy."

Jean looked at her, relieved. "Good. I… I've hurt enough people with this, I'm glad you're okay."

Rogue stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "What about you? Yah doin' okay with her? Ah can't imagine living with her, even after just a few minutes."

Jean smiled weakly. "I'm doing okay. Some days are better than others. You know how I told you I was feeling caged?"

Rogue nodded.

Jean glanced down. "That's because I'm caging her. Sometimes she tries to get to me, broadcasting her feelings to me, trying to trick me into letting her out again. Coming out here helps," she said, gesturing toward the open grounds around them.

Rogue folded her arms around herself, shuddering slightly at the thought. "Glad you're doin' better. Listen…. Ah'm sorry but Ah gotta get back to studyin'. Ah was jus' stoppin' by the kitchen back there for a snack, an' Ah got finals…."

Jean laughed, and nudged her with her elbow. "Well go on then, you should have told me, I wouldn't have dragged you along with me."

Rogue glanced down, embarrassed. "Ah didn' mind."

"Well, go on back, I'll be fine out here on my own." Jean said.

As Rogue turned, she stopped her one final time. "Oh, Rogue – Remy cares about you. I mean _really_ cares about you. And that's just from watching the two of you and listening to him, because I can't read him with telepathy. If I could, I know what I'd see."

Rogue flushed slightly. "Ah… Ah know, we're just takin' things as they come right now, tryin' not to get too serious too fast."

Jean nodded knowingly. "I guessed. You haven't really told him how you feel, have you?" She smiled at Rogue's momentary glance of surprise. "I felt it radiating from you when you talked about him. Love mixed with fear of rejection. I'm not trying to push you or anything, but you should tell him how you feel about him. You never know what's going to happen, and… I know what it feels like to have regrets, with Scott and everything…. Just think about it, alright?"

Rogue glanced at her sympathetically, and nodded. "Okay. Ah will. See yah later?"

Jean smiled, and raised her hand in a slight wave. "See you around."

Jean sat down on a nearby bench and stared after the young woman who'd saved her sanity by risking her life to absorb the Phoenix. She turned her face to the sky and closed her eyes, their conversation once more bringing to mind the thoughts and doubts she had about how things had ended with Scott.

Did he know she loved him, that she'd chosen him, or had he still wondered if she was going to choose Logan back then? It was something she had wondered often in the last few weeks, and something she'd likely never know the answer to.

* * *

"Warren, please come in. You wanted to see me?" Xavier asked, looking up to the open doorway that Warren had knocked on.

Warren hesitated at the door. "Are you busy, Professor Xavier? I – what I wanted to talk about could take a while."

Charles smiled. "I have don't have anything planned for the next few hours that can't be pushed aside for later, school is over but for the college students – you have all the time you need. Please, come and sit."

Warren walked in, and sat in the chair in front of the desk, his wings rustling to move to either side of the armrests. "Thanks," he said, inclining his head toward Xavier.

Charles nodded. "Now, what is it you wished to speak to me about, that's gotten you so nervous?"

Warren's eyes widened. "Sorry, just, hoping you'll hear me out about an idea I had."

Charles smiled again. "Alright, just take a breath and relax – despite what the other students may have told you, I don't bite."

Warren chuckled, and let himself relax. "Alright.

He set a small folder on his lap, which he'd been carrying as he entered the room. "I was talking to Rogue a few days ago – actually it's been more than a week now. We were talking about mutants, and she said something – something that got me thinking. She said that as long as we hide ourselves, to ease the fears of normal humans, the ones out there that spread that fear – Friends of Humanity, Purifiers, Church of Humanity, all those – are really winning."

"I – I don't mean to disrespect the school or your philosophies, but I think mutants need to step up now, more than ever. Show people that we're really out there, and not something to fear. I definitely understand keeping this school like you have – people that hate us might decide to attack the children – but mutants in general? We need to start being just as vocal as the bigots out there."

"I… talked to my father," Warren said, swallowing heavily. "I received a rather large trust fund from my grandfather, and I got his help in getting full access to it. And I've been doing a bit of planning – I want to start an organization to champion mutant rights in this country, and I wanted your advice. Like, is it going to even work? And will you help me?"

Charles nodded slightly, but his face remained impassive. He steepled his fingers under his chin. "Well, tell me your idea, and I'll let you know what I think."

Warren's face switched to what could best be termed a 'professional mode', and Xavier knew he'd likely learned it from his father, how to switch it on and off, schooling his expressions completely.

Warren scooted forward, and laid the folder out on the desk and opened it so it faced Xavier.

"I've been doing some research on charity and other organizations like this, and I'm thinking what I'd be starting is a Non Governmental Organization. As an NGO it would have a lot more pull, and be able to address a lot more."

"It would start small, but in a few years with enough support from pro-mutant groups out there, this could be big. The real emphasis would be on lobbying for change in laws, and against discrimination and discriminatory policies against mutants, but I was also thinking of some sort of humanitarian branch, sort of like the mutant version of the Red Cross: mutants helping out with their powers, during natural disasters, that sort of thing. Show people we're no different from them, and that this country, and this world is ours too and that we care about it and about them."

"Here's my basic outline," he said tapping the first page, and then turned it. "It goes on for a few pages, mainly organization goals, and then back here is what I have right now to put into this – it's all of my trust fund, seven million."

Charles raised an eyebrow at that, and then reached out to grasp the folder. "May I?"

"Sure," Warren said, releasing his grip on it.

Warren sat quietly for the next ten minutes as Charles carefully read through each page before he finally set the folder down and sat back. "Business school, with a bit of law?" Charles asked him.

Warren looked startled at the question. "Y-yeah, that's right."

Charles grinned slightly. "It read like it – and believe me that's a compliment in my opinion," he said. "Thankfully it wasn't law with a bit of business, or it would have bored me to death."

Warren smiled slightly, but looked on anxiously. "So, what do you think?"

Charles pursed his lips for a moment. "You do know this will be a long, hard process? Most if not all of your time will be dedicated to it if you go through with this, at least for the next few years?"

Warren nodded. "I… I've always lived in my father's shadow, done what he wanted of me. Now I'm free, and have little to do unless I want to do it. And I really want to do this. I've… never really felt a drive toward something until now."

"Well then," Charles said. "I wanted to make sure you were really dedicated to this. I think it is truly an excellent idea, Warren. You seem to have thought this out rather well, and have made a strong case."

He sighed. "This is a topic that I've struggled with for years, and I have given much thought to making this school public knowledge. I may do so in the future, but right now we're simply not protected well enough. But this," he said, tapping the folder with his fingers, "this could be the way to do it without endangering them."

Warren grinned. "Really? You think it's a good idea?"

Charles nodded. "I do, and I think this could be the way, as you said, to counteract those that hate us. I especially like the humanitarian aspect of it – I think that more than anything has the most power to change people's minds."

"I would be willing to get you in contact with one of my friends – he's a lawyer who specializes in these sorts of things. He could help you with the paperwork you'd need, and get you accredited, and set you up as a non-profit organization."

"That would be great, Charles." Warren said.

Charles cleared his throat. "Now, you will, of course, need a board of directors, a group of people willing to invest in this organization, who will help to guide it in the right direction and make sure your goals are being worked toward."

Warren nodded. "I know, I was hoping to invite you as a member, if that would be alright, but other than that, that's one of the few things I'm stuck on right now."

Charles smiled. "I would be delighted to serve on the board. And… it just so happens that I recently came into a large sum of money for our… services here. While I'm putting a large amount of it toward paying in full for the recent building projects here for next school year, and for a security system, I believe I will have around two and a half million I could invest in this organization of yours."

Warren's eyes widened at that, and Charles continued. "I believe I know a number of people who would be rather interested in this as well, a number of them from other countries. I'd suggest we start this right away as an international NGO – more pull, and more attention that way. And, in a few years, you'd be eligible to apply to join the ECOSOC council at the UN, and affect policy there."

"That…. Wow, Charles, all of that would be perfect, I really don't know what to say…. Thank you." Warren said, nearly speechless.

Charles smiled again. "I've begun to realize that soon myself and others of the 'Old Guard' will eventually be surpassed by younger mutants with the same ambitions, and you may very well be one of them."

Charles tapped the folder again. "One last thing, Warren. Do you have a name for it?"

Warren glanced away, slightly embarrassed. "Well…. That's the other thing I'm sort of hung up over… Right now I'm just calling it X-Corporation, but I don't think that's the best, or most descriptive name. Most people would probably have no idea what it's about."

Charles chuckled softly. "Yes, the name could use a little work. But your plan is very solid. You work on the name, and the next few days I'll start contacting some friends, seeing about getting their support, okay?"

Warren nodded and stood up. He leaned forward and firmly shook Charles' hand. "Thank you again."

"My pleasure," Charles replied, as the young man walked from the office.

Charles shot one last glance at the folder as the door clicked shut. Warren had truly impressed him, and Charles now believed that he might just be the person that could pull something like this off and make it work.

Charles nodded to himself and turned to his phone. He picked it up and dialed a number he knew by heart. The line rang for several seconds, and then went to an answering service – after all, it was three in the morning in Scotland.

"Moira, this is Charles. I just had the most interesting conversation about something that I think could be big for us. I'd like to talk to you about it, so give me a call back when you get this. Oh, and make sure Sean is there with you. It's an investment opportunity that I think will pay off in a large way for mutants everywhere, and it could use both of your resources. I'll talk to you later, hope I didn't wake you up with the call."

Charles depressed the talk button, and then turned his wheelchair to roll to the edge of his desk to access a small drawer. He opened it and pulled out a small black address book. '_Now to decide who else to call_,' he thought as he flipped it open.

* * *

Stephen Lang scrolled down the computer screen, which was covered in long lines of code, computer programming language that he knew just as well as English. He searched blearily through it – he'd been doing so for hours now – trying to find a single line out of place that was causing the malfunction in operation they were experiencing.

A soft knock sounded outside the large Master Mold station he'd built in this Purifier base – identical to one being built in Montana where the main operation would be started as soon as more S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s were manufactured, and much larger and more comfortable than the Master Mold trailer he'd been cooped up in for months over the last year.

"What is it now?" He snapped irritably. "Don't tell me we've got another problem."

"Problem?" The voice asked from the doorway.

Lang looked up to see Ron Maldrone standing in the open door, and straightened up.

"Sorry Ron, thought you were one of my assistants. Wasn't expecting you here."

Ron nodded. "Well, Graydon wanted an update, and I was in the area on campaign business, so I decided to stop by. Still having problems?"

Lang nodded. "This is the last major one at the moment, I think the rest will be little things. It's hard to develop code and not be able to test it until you steal the robots to test it out in."

"What's the problem?"

Lang sighed. "We've tested the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s with the new code out here in the base on a few mutants the boys picked up on the streets. They have both capture and kill orders working, but we ran into a genetic detection error on mutants that had energy projection abilities. For some reason the units detected the mutation, but that detection isn't being passed along to the decision center of the 'brain' of the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.. So, they're just standing there, staring at the mutant."

"Doesn't sound good." Ron said.

"It isn't. Fortunately we discovered it working with a weak mutant, so there's just a few scratches on the armor. It's good we discovered it now rather than in the field or we could have lost the units. So now I'm just trying to find where I went wrong in that part of the code which is unfortunately several thousand lines long." Lang said.

Ron nodded slowly. "I see. Any idea on when we can get a live exercise going? Gray would really like to get this going soon, start picking up mutants. We could use them for some of the Montana projects – we're beginning to run low."

Lang rubbed his forehead. "Give me…. Give me two days, alright? We should be over this bump, and all the other little ones popping up by then. I'll work around the clock if I need to."

Ron nodded, smiling slightly. "Alright, that sounds good. I'll tell Gray. You've done good, Stephen. When you're done here, we're thinking of moving you out to Montana to oversee the production lines."

Stephen grinned slightly. "That'd be nice, get away from the damn city and out into nature more." He turned back to his computer screen, and held up two fingers. "Two days. See you then."

He listened to Ron's receding footsteps, and then focused in on the lines of code with fresh eyes after the short interruption. '_Where the hell are you?' _He asked, as if hoping the answer would leap out at him any moment.

* * *

* * *

_**A/N:**__ Well, not a whole lot action-wise, but I enjoyed writing this chap. Finally get to see what Angel is up to. And yes, three finals all on the Saturday of Finals Week is a dreaded thing, and one that I have had the misfortune of experiencing twice during my years here at college. So I simply had to let our young X-Men friends experience it. :D_

_Decided to throw the Stepford Cuckoo trio and Nezhno in there for something a bit different, explore a few of the characters here that have gotten less attention. That's the real challenge with a cast like the one in this story, giving attention to everyone, even some to the more minor characters, and as I near the end of this story and reflect on my writing, I've felt I have neglected the younger students a bit over the course of the story. _

_I definitely plan on correcting that the final chapters here and in the sequel – we'll see more of the background characters. Plus, there will of course be the new students and teachers to explore. While there'll still be plenty of action, there'll be a lot of character exploration chapters in the sequel._

_Next chapter things ramp up in action, and some big things happen. The X-Men go on a mission and run into a bit more than they expected :D. Coming in to the last few chapters – only four left. See you guys next week!_

P.S. French translation for this chapter:

_fais de beaux rêves_ – Sweet dreams (literally something like: have beautiful dreams)


	32. Chapter 32: Capture

_**Disclaimer: X-men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So please don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway. ;)**_

_A/N: Hey everyone, Thanks for all the great feedback last chapter, glad you liked it. I think you all will definitely like this one - plenty of action, tempered by plenty of romance. There are a few comics references this chapter as well for my fellow comic nuts reading this. Read, and enjoy the next chapter!_

* * *

**Chapter 32: Capture**

* * *

Charles waited patiently while the image on the computer screen shifted wildly for several moments as the webcam broadcasting the image was shifted on the other end of the line.

The image finally ceased blurring, and came to rest on a woman sitting in a chair in front of the computer on her side. She had dark brown hair that framed the delicate features of her face, and expressive light grey-blue eyes.

"Good morning, Moira." Charles said, smiling at his friend – one of his closest and one he had known for years, well before the X-Men, back in his early college years.

"G'mornin' Charles," she said, a hint of Scottish brogue in her voice that had become less thick and pronounced over the years. She grinned at him. "It's afternoon here, though."

Charles chuckled, and his gaze was drawn to a young man who moved from where he had been adjusting the webcam, to sit in the chair next to Moira.

"Sean! It's good to see you. It's been a while."

The strawberry-blond haired man nodded - a wide grin, which seemed ever-present, spread across his face. "Good t'see yeh too, Charles," he said, his voice melodic and lilting with a soft Irish accent.

Sean Cassidy had been amongst Charles' first students, or rather his first X-Men – Hank, Scott, Jean along with him – and he had left after Ororo had come to the mansion, back to his home country of Ireland, and later to Muir Island to help Moira at her lab.

"How's Theresa?" Charles asked. "She made it back alright?"

Sean nodded. "Yes, she's here, still tryin' to get used to the time change from New York. Thank yeh for makin' sure she got on the plane over here safely."

Charles smiled. "It was no bother – Ororo was happy to take her to the airport and make sure she got on."

"An' her school work? How has she been doin' there?" Sean asked.

"Very well. She has been excelling in all of her subjects. The only thing I would note she could use some more effort in is mathematics. But then that tends to be the toughest subject among most students. I haven't heard from Ororo how her final exams went, but I'll send out the report cards by the end of the week."

Moira cleared her throat softly. "An' how is Rahne doin', Charles?"

Moira had encountered the young girl when her adoptive father had brought her in for help with her mutation, and she'd spent some time bonding with the young girl, before finally recommending they seek out Xavier's help, leading them to move to America.

"Excellent, actually. She's still a bit shy, but we've been working on that. And in the last few months, she's made a number of friends with some of the new students her age that have come to the school."

"Her control over her mutation has improved greatly," Charles continued. "There are still the occasional involuntary shifts when she's very emotional, but the threshold of intensity of emotion required to trigger it has been raised by quite a bit."

Moira smiled softly. "Good. She is a sweet girl, an' I dinnae like seein' her struggle like she was when she was here."

Charles nodded, and his eyes twinkled. "You know, I'm sure she'd still like to hear from a friend – if you'd like I could send you her home number…"

Moira nodded. "Aye, I would like tha'."

Charles smiled and glanced down to write a short note to remind himself to send it off to her – even psychics forgot things, he mused silently to himself.

He raised his eyebrows as he looked up again at the webcam. "How are things on the Island?"

Moira shrugged. "A wee bit better then th'week or two after Alcatraz. Still the occasional death threat, mainly from Americans, but ye know we got them anyway from time t'time. Still a steady amount of calls from mutants wonderin' if we have th'Cure. No new patients, though. An' we're makin' some progress with the gene sequencin'."

Muir Island was the home to Moira's Muir Island Research Facility, which she'd started around the same time Charles had returned to the States to take over the Mansion from his recently deceased father, and later turn it into the school it now was.

It was primarily a research facility, dedicated to researching the genome and differences between mutant and base line human genomes, and to the research of manifestations of mutant powers: how they worked, what specific mutations in the "X-Gene" caused the particular power, and other mutant related research. It also served as a sort of mutant hospital, usually for mutants with out of control or debilitating mutations to rest and attempt to recover and receive help from Moira and her staff.

On the screen, Sean nodded. "Everythin' has been slowly calmin' down, but then we're not in America like yeh, so that's expected, though the Parliament elections comin' up are bringin' mutant rights into it."

"But anyway, did Moira tell yeh the good news?" Sean reached down and grabbed Moira's hand, turning it so a modest diamond ring on her finger showed on the camera. "I asked her t'marry me last Sunday."

Charles smiled and nodded. "Yes, she mentioned it when I called Wednesday. Congratulations, Sean. I'm happy for the two of you." A twinkle appeared in his eye again. "I do have one question for you, because I want to make sure you're thinking things through completely…"

Sean raised his eyebrow, waiting.

"You _have_ tried her coffee, right? Because I'm of the opinion it could destroy a marriage if one doesn't know about it ahead of time." He said.

Moira huffed out a breath, rolling her eyes, and Sean chuckled. "Oh, really, Charles, it isnae that bad. Yuir jus' too used to drownin' it with milk an' sugar, an' ye cannae handle my kind of dark coffee." Moira said, her accent thickening while she tried to hide a grin.

It was something of a running joke between the two of them since they first met. Her coffee was strong, extremely dark, and in Charles' opinion it seemed to be almost the consistency of motor oil.

Sean chuckled. "Yes, I've tried it. I think we'll figure a way t'survive with it – it's definitely not my fav'rite. But then I'm more of a tea person myself."

Sean scratched his chin. "We're thinkin' a weddin' next summer, an' I was wonderin' if yeh'd be my best man, Charles. Years back I'd have liked m'cousin to, but…" He trailed off, shrugging.

"I understand – he's not the person he used to be these days. I'd be honored to be your best man, Sean."

Moira nudged Sean with her elbow. "Well, now that ye've finished insultin' my coffee, we should get to what you wanted to talk about, Charles. If we go over an hour the price for the call jumps up."

Charles nodded, and glanced down at the folder Warren had given him. "Did you get the fax of the plan?"

Moira leaned forward to grab her own paper copy of the folder's contents that Charles had sent over to them. "Aye, Charles, we got it. I havenae had the time to read much more than the summary, but Sean read through it all. Ye're right, I think it looks promisin'."

Sean nodded. "I think so too. It could be the thing we need to start tippin' world opinions in our direction. Just one thing – the lad, he knows he's going to have to out himself as a mutant publicly, right? If not to make it work, at the very least to get the media attention to help the startup."

Charles inclined his head. "Yes, I believe he does. A few weeks ago, I would have been doubtful – when he arrived here, he seemed embarrassed and ashamed of his mutation – likely because of his father. But in a short amount of time he's seemed to accept it and no longer wishes to hide it."

Sean chewed on his lower lip for a moment. "If he's willin' to do that, I think this will work. I know his father, mostly by reputation, but I've met him once as well. If he's anythin' like him, he'll keep at somethin' 'till it's done. Wit' a drive like that I think this group could go far."

His eyes creased slightly, and he looked over to Moira before looking back to the camera. "So what is it, exactly, yeh wanted from us?"

"Hopefully some financial support for him. And this group will need a strong board of directors to keep it moving toward its goals, and Warren asked me to find some members for him. I figured a famous Irish mutant and the head of the largest mutant research facility in the world would help raise publicity, and be a good addition." He said, grinning.

Moira and Sean exchanged a momentary glance, and then Moira nodded. "Aye, I think we can do that, Charles. As long as we can teleconference for most of th'board meetings."

Sean continued for her. "I looked into things before yeh called – between the two of us we c'n front a little over a half million US dollars an' still be in good shape 'round here. An' once it goes public, I think we could raise at least that much. People are a bit more friendly toward mutant rights on this side of the pond."

Charles smiled warmly. "Thank you, both."

"Do ye have anyone else in mind, Charles? Ye'll need more than just th'two of us." Moira asked.

Charles nodded, his brow furrowing. "I've talked to Hank, and he said he'd be willing to be on the Board. After he resigned, other than missions and trying to get his old research going again, there isn't much to do here for him."

"I'm going to call over to London later," Charles continued, "to talk to a friend of mine. I think you know Brian Braddock?"

Moira nodded. "Aye, I've met him, don't think Sean has." She said, and Sean shook his head. "I think he'd go for it. His sister's a mutant, an' the family's been leadin' all the political reforms on mutant rights in the Parliament."

Charles frowned. "I have a few others in mind, mainly mutants and small mutant groups. I might also talk to Reed – I think he would be interested." Charles hesitated. "And I thought I might talk to Nathaniel…"

Moira's eyes widened. "Essex?" She asked, shocked. "Charles, are ye sure about that? He's got quite a diffren' idea about how things should be, an' even about the science behind mutant development."

Charles grimaced. "I know, Moira, but he's a big figure in the science world. I respect Essex, I just have different opinions and theories than him. And with Essex, Hank, you, and myself, we'll have most of the top scientists specializing in mutants, which would give a lot of legitimacy to the organization."

Charles sighed. "And I'm coming to realize we need to hear from other viewpoints, or we'll fail even amongst mutants. Warren helped me realize that with this plan – you know I've struggled with going public like this."

Moira nodded, and then chuckled slightly. "I guess I'm okay with it. He'll be outnumbered by us if we don' like somethin' he's proposin'."

Charles smiled slightly. "True." He glanced at the clock at the bottom of the computer screen. "Alright, Moira, Sean, I should get going. I'll be in contact with you later when Warren and I have everything finalized. It was good to talk to both of you again – I'll get those report cards sent out soon."

"G'bye Charles," Moira said, smiling softly.

"Talk to yeh later," Sean said, standing up to move toward the webcam and switch it off as Charles did the same with his.

Charles smiled bittersweetly as the picture disappeared. He was happy for his former pupil, glad that he'd found someone who loved him, but at the same time he also felt a hint of regret at the brief, failed relationship he'd had with Moira, years ago, that had ended up simply as close friendship.

He pushed the thoughts from his head, and looked down at the address book in front of him. There were two more to call this morning – the Braddocks first, he'd decided, and then the Yoshida family before it got too late across the world in Japan.

* * *

"END OF MISSION – STAND DOWN"

Stephen Lang entered the words into his Master Mold console, and S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. towering in the large hangar nearby released its hold on the mutants it carried in its hands, letting them drop over six feet to the floor, still unconscious from their capture.

Lang gestured to the nearby armed men, some of Boss' team, wearing their S.H.I.E.L.D. weaponry. "Get some of those collars on these muties and pack them up with the rest. Those were the last two – Maldrone wants the shipment sent off tonight to Montana."

The men hurried to comply – they'd learned quickly to follow Lang's orders when they found out Boss became rather _unpleased_ if they ignored Lang.

He watched as they dragged away the two mutants – a young man, perhaps in his late teens or early twenties with shaggy blond hair, and a young Muslim girl, her body covered in a long black _abaya_ robe, and all of her face but her eyes concealed by a black _niqab, _which had come off partially during the brief struggle and flight back, showing more of her face than was likely allowed in her religious traditions.

He'd been glad they'd managed to catch her unawares and knock her out quickly. She'd been on the Purifier watchlist of mutants they wanted, and had been watched closely for the past year. Had they given her some warning, her power would have made it nearly impossible to capture her.

He glanced back down at the screen, which was running replays of footage from the mission. He was glad they'd run into the boy, as he had some sort of energy-projection power, with energy blasts from his hands. The smaller S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s had sustained minor damage from the battle, but had not frozen up, meaning the patch he'd made to their programming was working.

He'd wished he had both main S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s at the base here, but Maldrone had made him send the second up north, to spread out the abductions and reduce suspicion, and he was running the unit remotely in tandem with the Purifier base it had been stationed at.

_'Oh well,_' he thought as he grabbed his large laptop and the connective leads, and moved over toward the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L., beginning to hook the leads up with a hidden port under the chest plate. He sat back, started the diagnostic's program, and waited for it to run its course.

* * *

Kitty woke up to the smell of... paper? She blinked groggily as the smell registered, and felt her eyelids brush against the same paper she smelled. She groaned slightly and lifted her head up from the textbook she'd fallen asleep face-first on. She grimaced as she felt the paper peel away from her cheek after having been in contact with it for so long.

She reached up to rub her eyes, and felt a hand move away from her shoulder – she realized then that someone had been gently shaking her awake. She started, and turned to find Piotr standing next to her chair in the library.

Piotr looked down at her with an amused expression as she blinked sleepily.

"Hey Pete," she said, one hand rubbing at her right eye. "What time is it?"

"Seven in the morning," he said. "You slept down here all night."

She stretched her neck, the muscles in it protesting at the position she'd slept in as she moved. She winced. "Yeah. Seven, huh?" She closed her eyes as her mind processed the time, and they snapped open again. "Three hours 'till the physics exam," she said, groaning slightly.

She straightened when she smelled the cup of coffee he was holding in his other hand. "Smells good," she said.

Piotr smiled and passed the coffee mug to her. "I brought it for you. Logan started up all the coffee machines and made a lot for all of us, and I thought you could use a cup."

She smiled up at him. "Yeah, I need it. Thanks."

She tilted the mug, and sipped at the hot liquid. It was black – Piotr hadn't added anything to it – and while she usually would add a dash of soy milk to it, she didn't care at the moment. The aroma itself was already bringing her to full wakefulness.

Piotr nodded. "Oh, Rogue got Remy to make breakfast for us – he said it should be ready in a few minutes."

Kitty nodded as she raised the mug to her mouth once again. She set it down and sighed, looking down at the open textbook in front of her. "You ready for the test?"

Piotr shrugged. "I think so. Best that I can be ready, at least. How about you? Were you hoping to absorb the information if you slept on it?" He asked, grinning slightly.

Kitty laughed. "Something like that. I think I'll be okay. Just wish I had more time, but having all the tests bunched up in a four day period makes it hard."

Piotr nodded. "At least it is the last test for us. Then we're done until next semester."

Kitty smiled. "Yes, that's the plus. When are you heading out?"

Piotr turned to lean back against the table by her side. "I fly out Friday. I think everyone's leaving Friday or Saturday." He looked curiously over at her. "What about you?" Then he grimaced, remembering the divorce. "Sorry…."

Kitty sighed slightly. "It's fine. My flight out is on Saturday. I… we're really not sure yet how we're going to handle living arrangements. Mom wants me with her, and Daddy wants me with him. We'll have to figure out something, like maybe half the summer with each of them, or alternating weeks or something."

"Things will work out," Piotr said softly. "They both love you – they'll come up with some sort of compromise."

Kitty smiled weakly around the rim of the coffee mug, and reached out to pat his hand. "Thanks. You seem to always know the right thing to say, Pete."

He swallowed nervously and smiled. _'Not all the time,_' he thought to himself.

"Growing up with a younger sister, it's hard not to know," he said.

Kitty chuckled. "I'll bet." She set the mug down and started to shuffle through the mess of notes surrounding the textbook on the table in front of her. "We should go get something to eat. Brain food and all that."

Piotr nodded, and pushed off from where he was leaning, and started to slowly leave the room.

Kitty chewed her lip as a thought came to her. "Hey, wait, Pete. Before I forget – you have a cell phone, right?"

Piotr stopped and turned around, nodding. "Yeah, it's up in my room."

She smiled and tore off part of one of her note papers that had a blank lower half. She grabbed her pen and scribbled out a number. "This's my cell. Give me a call sometime – we can go do something over the summer: figured I'd better do it now or I would forget later. I mean, we live in the same city, right?" She said, grinning. "If you want to, that is – I… it would probably help me get away from all the drama with my parents."

He smiled, his cheeks turning pink, and carefully folded the paper once she handed it to him, and slipped it into his pocket. "Sure. I'll call you." He bent down over her notes, and wrote his number at the top of one of the pages, and pushed it toward her. "And if you want to get away and I haven't called," he said in explanation.

She nodded, and slid the paper on top of the stack, and slid them into the front of her textbook. "Thanks Pete. You go ahead, I'll be right behind you," she said as she piled her calculator onto the books, slid her pen into her pocket, and picked up the stack before turning to follow him toward the kitchen.

Even as they exited the library, she shook her head in amusement – she could already hear Sam talking animatedly from down the hall to someone in the kitchen.

* * *

"_Police in Virginia and West Virginia are puzzled by a recent string of abductions and disappearances that have occurred over the last two days on either side of the border of the two states." The news anchor said, a small map of the area showing up on the screen next to him._

"_Police were not willing to put forward a definitive statement about the disappearances, but they did say that a large number of the abductions were of mutants. Thus far there has been a single witness, and police say he gave them a statement, describing the taking of one of the victims. He described the abductor as a human wearing some sort of body armor or robot costume."_

"_Police are taking the testimony with a grain of salt as the man, who lives on the streets, has been in and out of several mental institutions over the past five years."_

"_But more disturbingly, last night a string of five abductions hit a suburb of New York City, and the families of the victims have all stated that the abductees were mutants. The NYPD is investigating, and has not made any statements, but a source from inside the department has stated that the disappearances in Virginia and west Virginia may be linked to these disappearances, and the department is looking into anti-mutant hate groups as possible suspects."_

"Watcha doing?" A low, female voice came from behind Warren, who jumped at the sudden intrusion, nearly knocking off the sheaf of papers he had resting on his lap while he watched the television.

He turned on the couch to find Lorna walking around it from behind him. "Hey, Lorna. Not much, just watching the news," he said as his green-haired friend rounded the couch.

"D'you mind if I sit?" She asked, gesturing at the couch.

"No," he said, grabbing several papers that he'd left sitting on the couch next to him, "go ahead."

She smiled and sat down on the couch next to him far enough away that she didn't lean back against his wing, which spread out slightly across the back to accommodate his sitting position, but close enough that she brushed against it slightly, sending a light shiver through his body at the contact.

"So what's with all the papers?" She asked, looking curiously at them.

"It's… well, it's sort of a pet project of mine I've been putting together the last few days. It'll give me something to do around here. You want to hear about it?"

She nodded, and leaned back against the couch, turning her gaze attentively to him. "Sure."

Warren smiled slightly. "Well, I'm making a… it's kind of a mutant rights organization. Things like this are officially called Non-Governmental Organizations. They're sort of like a charity mixed with a lobbying group."

"I… I want to help change the way people view mutants, and the way mutants are treated under laws around the world. We've been letting people like all these anti-mutant groups scare everyone about us, and we need to fight back. It's… something that's worked in the past with others that were discriminated agaisnt, and I know there are a lot of people out there that want the same – mutants _and_ humans."

Lorna nodded slowly, smiling at the intensity of his focus and his words. "I like it."

"You do?" He asked, a dusting of pink appearing on his cheeks.

She nodded again, smiling. "Yeah. It's a good idea. And it seems like you'd be a good person to do it. What's the group called?"

He looked hesitantly at her. "I've been working on that. Looking at other organizations for ideas… I'm kind of liking 'Mutants Without Borders'…."

She grinned. "Like Doctors Without Borders?"

He nodded, shifting uncomfortable on the couch. "Yeah. Not exactly original I guess…."

She shook her head. "No, I like it. It sort of says what it needs to say, and gives a pretty good idea what it's about."

He smiled slightly. "Alright – I'll go with that."

He then sighed and gestured at the paperwork. "Unfortunately it takes _a lot_ of forms. Charles got me in touch with this lawyer he knows who sets up groups like this, and he sent me all this startup paperwork. Unfortunately I'm sure there's ten times more when I'm finished with this," he said rolling his eyes.

Lorna laughed. "My dad used to say bureaucrats need a form to tell them to fill out a form to get permission to fill out the form you actually need."

Warren nodded, grinning. "Sure seems that way."

Lorna spread her hands out. "Well, you've got your first recruit right here – let me know if you need help, or if there's anything I can do to help out. Things'll be pretty dull around here until I can finally start classes, so I don't have much to do."

"Thanks," Warren said, "I'll let you know…. Actually," he said, pausing as he looked at the messy pile of papers on his lap and on the coffee table in front of them. "Could you help me look for a form? There's supposed to be one in here that sets up tax exemption, and he wanted me to send that to him as soon as I could, but I can't find it – these don't seem to be in any logical order."

"Sure," she said, and grabbed the small stack he proffered to her. Lorna began to flip through it, her eyes skimming each page. She pulled her legs up on the couch, moving them beneath her, and settled in as she looked through the pile of papers he'd given her.

As she reached the end of the stack, she leaned forward to look at the pile still on the table as Warren finished his own stack.

The words on top of the first sheet caught her eye, and her hand darted forward. "I think this is it," she started, but trailed off.

Warren had seen it as well, and reached for it, and they both froze, his hand covering hers above the paper.

She felt her breathing speed up slightly when he didn't pull back, and when she realized how close her face was in proximity with his. She licked her lips nervously, her green eyes meeting his brown ones.

It seemed almost like he was starting to lean closer, and she swallowed heavily. "W-Warren?" she stuttered, her voice uneven.

He stopped. "Yeah, Lorna?" He asked softly.

She took a deep breath. "What are we – what's happening between us?" She asked. As much as she hated to admit it, her flirtation with Remy, and his admittedly gentle turndown, had shaken her confidence a bit, and she wanted to hear from Warren himself that he was feeling the same things she was.

He cleared his throat. "I… I'm not sure. But I like it."

She nodded quickly. "Me too."

He wetted his lips then, and she found herself staring at them. "Lorna, I don't know… I've dated a few girls before, but I've never known anyone like you… do you… want to see where things go?"

A relived smile flooded her face. "Yeah, I do. Maybe… dinner somewhere?"

His eyes widened, and a brief flash of embarrassment came over his face. "Y-yeah, of course, that's what I was trying to say, I just…"

She gazed at him knowingly, and placed her free hand over his for a moment. "I know. I'm… actually kinda new to this."

"Really?" he asked surprised. "You've never…. you know… gone out with someone?"

She grimaced at the thought of single date she'd been on with a guy who went to school with her. "Technically yes. But, let's just say, as long as you don't take me to a McDonalds, and then try to basically chew my face off and cop a feel afterwards, you'll be in good shape…"

"A-alright," Warren said, clearly trying to mask his amusement at the way she described it. "I'll… umm.. certainly try to resist the urge to do so," he said, the corners of his lips quirking upward.

"Hey, it's not funny, I really thought he was like a cannibal or something the way he was 'kissing'," Lorna said, trying not to laugh at Warren's expression.

"I'll take your word for it," he said, finally grinning. "How about…. Friday night?"

"That sounds great. I… I like you a lot, Warren. I hope this goes somewhere." She said, before finally letting go of his hand and grabbing the paper. "I think this is what you were looking for."

He nodded, slowly tearing his gaze away from her to look back down at the paper – unsure if she was talking about the form, or about what had just passed between the two of him. But the answer to both was the same: "Yeah, I think it is," he said softly, taking the paper from her.

* * *

Rogue floated gently down from the air to land on the roof next to Remy. She was greatly improving her landings with practice, although she still had to keep concentrated – if she wasn't paying close attention she still ended up making her own crater, or a long trench in the grass.

"Hey Sugah," she said, sitting down next to him. He had the ruggedized S.H.I.E.L.D. laptop they'd after their tour, resting on his lap, and was scrolling down the current screen with the mousepad.

He smiled, and turned his eyes from the screen, to meet hers. "_Chére_," he said, leaning over to kiss her cheek. "How it feel to be done?"

Rogue flopped down on her back, stretching her arms out over her head. "It feel's great," she said, sighing with relief. "No more classes, 'till the day after Labor Day three months from now."

Remy nodded, and reached out to caress her cheek with the back of his gloved hand. "Not completely over, _Chére_. Dere's de occasional trainin' wit' S.H.I.E.L.D.,an' I wan' to keep working wit' you on _savate_, if you wan' to keep learnin'."

Rogue smiled slightly. "But Ah think of that as fun, or as a workout. It ain' takin integrals an' twistin' functions 'round or doin' papers on famous writers, or doin' chemistry. An' yeah, Ah want you to keep teachin' me, Sugah."

Remy's grin turned lopsided, and he winked at her. "Suppose dis means I can take you out on dates more often."

She blushed slightly. "Ah'd like that," she said softly.

Then her expression became stern. "As long as Ah don' get fat from you spoilin' me."

Remy raised an eyebrow, and poked her in the side. "Dat'd be hard to do, _Chére_. You're damn skinny as it is."

Rogue shrugged, looking slightly embarrassed. "Ah guess… but not too much fattenin' me up – not all of us have the metabolism of a horse like you, swamp rat."

Remy grinned. "_Oui_. But I saw you wolfin' down dose pancakes dis mornin'. You don' have a horse metabolism, but it's still pretty good. Maybe somethin' pig-sized…."

She gasped, and swatted his shoulder. "Remy LeBeau, did you just imply that Ah'm a pig? At least Ah said horse for yah. Ya'll are lucky you're holdin' that expensive laptop, or Ah'd toss you off th'roof."

Remy chuckled, and placed the laptop to the side, and leaned over to wrap his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer. "Well, here's your chance, _Chére_, you can toss me off now."

She pouted up at him, her head settling against his shoulder. "Ah would, but you make a better pillow than a crater, so Ah'll let ya live this time," she murmured.

She turned on her side, resting her cheek against his shoulder, the palm of her right hand moving to rest flat against his stomach. "Mmmm…" she mumbled contentedly.

She sighed and moved her hand further up his chest, and let it come to a rest over his heart, which she felt beat strongly and reassuringly against her palm. "Remy?"

"Mm-hm?" He murmured into her hair.

"Ah love… Ah love spendin' time with yah like this," she finished lamely.

She chewed her lip, cursing silently to herself. She wanted, more than anything, to follow Jean's advice, but over the last several days it seemed every time she came close to telling him she loved him, that dark part deep down inside her brought all her insecurities to the forefront, and silenced her.

She closed her eyes, wishing it was easier, wishing she didn't feel the fear and insecurity she felt.

She finally spoke again when the silence grew long, and she wondered if he suspected what she'd been about to say, but she looked up into his eyes and couldn't see the hint of surprise she would have expected.

She changed the subject. "So what are ya doin' on th'laptop? Fury send us somethin'?"

"_Non_," he said, the arm behind her shifting so he could run his hand along her back. "Charles, actually. Everyone's around 'till at least Friday, an' he wants to get one last big X-Men mission in before half de team leaves for de summer. He asked me dis mornin' to plan it, an' den have Logan an' Stormy look it over."

"Oh. Somethin' big? Dani, Jubes and Sam ain't been out in the field before."

He nodded. "I know, dat's part of de planning – I'm tryin' to balance things so neither team gets hurt if dey freeze up or somethin' like dat. It sometimes happens first time you run into de real deal – practice only gets you so far."

He reached out with his free hand and grabbed the laptop, laying it down on his belly just beneath where her arm crossed his chest. He tapped the mousepad, and the screen flashed with a large set of blueprints.

"Prof. wants us to hit another Purifier place. De other New York one one we found out 'bout from de last raid. I guess Kitty got some info off de hard drives on de typical guard setup, an' security system, an' whoever Xavier's source is called him last night. I guess dere's been some disappearances in de area nearby, an' dey're behind it – mutant disappearances. Now's de time to act if we're gonna act."

She nodded. "So, S.H.I.E.L.D. got anythin' on them?"

He grinned. "More'n I could have hoped. Blueprints, pictures, a whole history of de last few months dey've been watchin'. More'n enough to work dis out." He frowned slightly. "It's bigger though. Las' time it was jus' a single office buildin', but dis place is like its own gated community mixed wit' an office park. Harder to get what we want, more security to worry 'bout."

She smiled, and let her palm move slowly up his chest, and to his cheek. "You know, Ah just so happen to'be datin' this expert thief. Ah'm sure he'll be able to handle it." She whispered, her lips ghosting against his.

Remy groaned, and quickly shut the laptop and set it to the side before reaching up to tangle his hands in her hair and pull her closer. "Oh, I'm sure he will too," Remy said, "but he's got dis beautiful girlfriend dat's way too distractin' for him to get any more done until he kisses her senseless."

A grin curved across her lips as he met her lips firmly with his, and tried to do just that.

* * *

"Alrigh', so you can see dis place is _big_," Remy said, manipulating the projector in the War Room to get a clearer image of the aerial photo of the Purifier compound.

He zoomed out, and then pointed at a building over a mile away. "Dis is de real target. Dey got smart an' kept it outta de main compound, but de intel we got says dey're runnin' somethin' with a _lot_ of power outta dis buildin'."

He nodded toward Ororo and Logan. "We think dis is their computer buildin' The energy usage is equivalent to one, an' dey had a hell of a lot of fiber-optic cables run between here an' de main base. Dis is where their servers will be, an' all their hard drives. Dat means it's gonna be pretty well guarded."

"Best guess is maybe fifty here, close to de same at de main compound. Nothin' we can't deal wit', but we want to get in and out of dis particular buildin' before dey can delete anythin' or shoot up de drives like last time."

"Dat means we're runnin' in two teams – one to make a big distraction at de main base, try to free any mutants while we're at it, an'' draw as many guards over dere. De other takes out de rest at de data building, an' gets de drives."

He tapped at the screen, and it changed to half-red background and half blue background, and their pictures appeared, evenly split on either color. "Rogue, Dani, Kurt, Bobby, an' Piotr, you're on Blue team wit' me. We're gonna make a lot of noise an' fireworks at de main base."

He nodded around the table at the others. "Rest of you are Red team, Ororo n'Logan are takin' you to de other buildin'. Kitty, you're de closest thing we have to an expert on dese things - you're in charge of gettin' what you can out, an' ev'ryone else will cover for you."

She nodded, a determined look settling over her face, while Dani, Sam, and Jubilee all looked somewhat nervous about the coming mission.

"I think dat 'bout covers it. Anythin' to add?" Remy asked, looking to Xavier.

Xavier flashed them a smile. "No, I think you three have come up with an excellent plan. And I don't think we would have noticed the separate building without you, Remy." He glanced around the room, his gaze settling longer on the three new additions to the team. "I'm sorry for the sudden notice, but we need to act now while we have our full force here, and while we know there are likely mutants at the facility that we can rescue."

Remy clapped his hands together. "Alrigh' – we're each takin' one of de small X-Jets, an' we already got dese maps on de computers in both de planes if you wanna look 'em over on de way. Let's suit up – we leave in twenty."

Remy waited as everyone filed from the room, before following, stopping only when Rogue paused at the back of the group and turned to him, pressing her hands against his chest. "Good luck, Sugah," she whispered, leaning up to kiss him softly.

"Good luck _Chére_," he said, caressing her cheek as she pulled back and they moved toward the uniform room together, their hands clasping each other's until they were forced to split to go to the different rooms to change.

* * *

_"Diversion's goin' alright," _Remy's voice came over the headsets of the waiting members of Red team, who were waiting in hiding near the computer building, several hundred feet from where their disguised jet had quietly landed. "_You're about as clear as you're gonna get_. _Have fun,_" he finished, and Ororo could hear the grin in his voice.

"Got that, we're moving in. Pull out in ten like we planned," she said, before lowering her hand from the earpiece.

She looked to Logan, and then Hank, and then to the younger faces of Kitty, Jubilee, and Sam. "Let's go. Remember, you've trained for this, now this is the real thing," she said, her gaze lingering on the two newest X-Men.

She and the others stayed hidden, creeping along a nearby building, while Logan circled the other direction, coming even with the two men standing guard at the chain-link fence in front of the building.

He sprinted forward, his claws springing from his hands, and the two guards were down – moaning and unconscious – before they even knew what happened. He slashed at the padlock that held the gate closed, and then retracted his claws, gesturing for the others to follow.

He shoved open the large gates and they sprinted through, their sudden appearance leaving the few men in the small 'courtyard' to stare at them, stunned.

Hank bounded forward, his fist swinging into the jaw of one of the men as Logan tackled another. Jubilee set off a quiet version of one of her "fireworks" directly in the face of another, and the blast of wind from Ororo knocked him and the other shocked Purifier men and women off their feet, and into the hard brick wall at the front of the building.

"Alright, let's move around back – blueprints showed that's the easiest way in," Ororo said, as the last man was felled.

She led her small group around the building, and then it was their turn to freeze, when they found themselves staring at the entire guard force for the building – nearly fifty in number.

"Shit," Ororo said, surprising the others on the team at her uncharacteristic curse. The men in front of raised their weapons and began to open fire as Ororo and her team dove behind the only cover on the back lawn – a large bus.

The bullets whined and clanged nearby against the body of the vehicle but they were, for the moment, safe.

Ororo raised a hand to her ear. "Remy, get-"

A sharp, shrieking whine burst from their earpieces, forcing them to tear them off, and shut them down.

"Damnit," Logan growled, rubbing his ear. "They're jamming us somehow. We need to do something, quick."

Ororo nodded. "Watch my back," she said, and then tilted her head back.

Her eyes slowly clouded over, becoming a pure white color, and the wind around them began to whip up, the sky darkening above them.

She moved around the bus, and a gale-force wind erupted from behind her. It barely ruffled her hair, but buffeted the group back, knocking them into one another as a large downpour started directly above them.

They fired a few wild shots as they tripped up on one another, but nothing came near her as she allowed the wind to increase, and the heavy rain to turn to hail. The temperature around the men began to cool rapidly, leaving those still up shivering too violently to even hold their weapons as ice formed on their extremities – the water that had soaked them now freezing.

Ororo released her hold on the intense, concentrated storm, her eyes clearing once more, and she collapsed to her knees, breathing heavily at the energy that move had taken from her.

Logan knelt beside her and grabbed her arm, helping her to her feet.

The sudden sound of a gunshot rang out, and Logan jerked as the bullet hit his back. Everyone whirled toward the sound, and were dismayed to find a group of equal size to the one they'd just encountered, running toward them from the inside of the building.

Ororo's exhausted mind whirled – it was a trap. There were far more men here than they'd ever planned for even in their worst case scenarios – Remy had obviously encountered more than enough at the main complex for him to have thought that he'd drawn off enough for them to enter easily, so that meant easily the same amount facing him.

"Get- we have to get out of here," Ororo said, straightening up. "It was a trap, we can't take them all on. We distract them and then we run."

"Ah'm on it," Sam said, coruscating energy surrounding his body. He leapt into the air, and a blast of energy erupted from his feet as he jetted toward the group, whirling through their ranks and buffeting dozens to the ground, before circling back.

"Eyes," Jubilee shouted, and they had mere moments to make sure their backs were to her as they ran toward more cover, before her hands erupted in a fiery display of deafening fireworks that blasted toward the Purifier forces.

"Alright, let's get- aaagh!" She choked out as one of the men, now firing blindly, managed a lucky shot in her direction. She doubled over, clutching her side.

"Damnit," Logan growled. "Jubes is hit. Get the hell out of here. I got her, get the jet ready," he snarled to Ororo, Hank, and Sam who had made it to the corner of the building in all the distraction.

He sprinted back out into the open as the men slowly began to regain their vision, and scooped Jubilee up in his arms. She hissed out a breath, and a groan of pain as he lifted her and ran back toward the others. He took several bullets to his back as he rounded the corner, the men pursuing, and he staggered until Kitty steadied him with a hand on his arm.

Jubilee's face was pale, and her hands clutching her side were red and wet with blood. "S-sorry, should have been more careful."

"Shush, kid, you did good. You're gonna be okay, jus' save your energy," he said around a grimace as the bullets slowly popped out of his body when his healing factor kicked in.

"Let's go," he said to Kitty – the others, he could see, were already clear of the front fence and running toward the jet.

"Go ahead – I got this," Kitty said. "We came here for something, I'm getting it."

"Don't you dare-" He gritted his teeth as she ignored him and ran straight through the wall, into the building. "You better know what your doin'," he muttered.

Logan shifted Jubilee in his arms so he could press one of his hands down on both of her smaller ones, helping her apply more pressure for her wound. "Hang on kid. Bumpy for a little bit here," he said, breaking into a run toward the front gate, the yells from the Purifiers at his heels.

* * *

"Went straight through – no bouncin' around is good – an' it didn't knick anything major," Logan said, firmly holding the trauma pads against the entrance and exit wounds on Jubilee's side – he'd used his claws to slice away her uniform around the wound to get a better look and better access to it. "Lost a lot of blood though, an' there could be internal we can't see."

Jubilee nodded weakly, her arms limply at her sides where she laid on the floor of the X-Jet. "Tired." She croaked.

"I know, jus' hang in there." He looked up toward Ororo, who was sitting tensely at the controls of the jet. "Damnit, where is she?" he asked – it had been mere minutes since he'd given the Purifiers the slip by entering the cloaked fighter before they'd made it around the building it hid behind.

"Right here!" Kitty shouted, panting. "Let's go let'sgoletsgo, they're following!" She said, diving through the barely visible ramp, several large hard drives in her arms.

Ororo immediately hit the button to begin to raise the ramp, and before it had even started to move she punched the button to turn on the hovering thrusters, and the plane jerked into the air, leaving the men who'd chased after the intangible Kitty stuck on the ground, staring up at the slowly disappearing bay of the jet.

"What about the others?" Logan asked, crouched with Hank next to Jubilee while Hank checked her pulse and breathing rate.

Hank shook his head. "We can't stop over by them – I'm sure they got the idea on their own. We need to get Jubilee to the mansion, _now_. She's lost too much blood – we need the Med Lab to do anything now."

Ororo responded to his prognosis by kicking the main engines into gear, sending the jet racing across the skies toward the mansion. She shook her head. "Whatever the radio interference is, it's affecting the system on the jet too. We can't call Remy and the others. But they can take care of themselves."

Logan nodded, and then turned a stern gaze in Kitty's direction.

She nodded tiredly. "I know, it was stupid. I had to phase them out with me so I'm not sure if that damaged them at all, but I got four," she said, gesturing at the hard drives. "Even if you guys had to leave, I could have phased over to Rogue and the others, or until I got away from them," she said in explanation.

Logan growled, but nodded grudgingly. "Can't blame you for results, but if you ever do something that stupid again, you're scrubbing the hangar floor with a toothbrush for a year."

Kitty gave him a weak smile, and wiped her brow from the sweat that had built up in her rapid sprint into the building and then to the X-Jet.

She pushed the hard drives onto one of the seats, and staggered over next to Logan. She reached out, and grabbed Jubilee's hand, squeezing it tightly. "You're gonna be alright, Jubes," she said.

Jubilee returned the gesture with an alarmingly weak squeeze back, and a small smile – her eyes half-closed.

Hank shook his head. "She's starting to go into shock. I think we'll make it, but just barely," he said, peering out at the blurring countryside beneath them as Ororo pushed the engines of the Jet to their limits.

* * *

Kurt *BAMF*ed back into existence behind the man, kicked viciously at his head, ramming it into the wall beside him. Kurt teleported yet again toward the next Purifier soldier as the one he'd kicked slid bonelessly to the ground.

He landed atop that one, driving him to the floor where he could deliver a punch that knocked him senseless. Kurt looked up as Remy and Rogue dashed out of the interior of the building they were in.

"Anything?"

Remy shook his head. "Nothin'. We got one more buildin' to check, an' dat's de big one over dere." He said, nodding toward a wide, squat building that looked more like a small company's building than the headquarters of the Purifier base.

He nudged the man beneath Kurt with the toe of his boot. "These morons jus' keep comin' – Stormy an' de others have to be pretty damn clear."

He glanced out the windows surrounding the lobby they were in, and saw Kurt, Bobby, and Piotr emerge empty-handed from the building across the small grassy courtyard between the buildings. "Last one it is, den. Let's go."

* * *

Unbeknownst to them, several pairs of reddish photoreceptors glowed as they watched the six mutants meet up and begin to jog toward the large building. Each set belonged to its own robot, and each robot had just been dispatched, and now perched on the surrounding buildings, sending their information back to the Prime, base S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L..

:GENETIC PROFILE COMPLETE – SIX HOSTILES CLASSIFIED AS MUTANTS - ENGAGE?:

Several hundred miles away, in western West Virginia, Stephen Lang grinned to himself at their luck as he watched the computer monitors displaying the views from each S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L..

He nodded to himself, and typed out their command.

:ENGAGE. SUBDUE AND CAPTURE.:

* * *

Remy saw a blur of metal from the corner of his eye, and dove out of the way of the falling object, which landed with a loud clanging sound mere feet from the group.

Three more of the same objects dropped on each side, completely surrounding them, and Remy looked up to find himself staring into the glowing red "eyes" of a metallic being, a towering construct, half a head taller than he was.

"SURRENDER, MUTANTS," the nearest one said in a somewhat monotone, robotic voice.

"Somehow I get the feeling this isn't something we knew about," Dani muttered.

Remy's eyes narrowed as he examined the being in front of him. There was no way this was human, even armored in something like Tony Stark had. They were far too compact – solid – and their legs were far too spindly, looking like they were made from large bars of some sort of metal, and no room for a human leg inside them.

"Sorry, we don' surrender, 'specially to ugly bastards like you." Remy said, several playing cards appearing in his hand. "Let's take dem – dey ain' humans – some sorta robots," he said to the others, who'd taken up defensive stances, their backs to one another to form a circle.

He hurled the charged cards, and the explosion knocked back the nearest S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.. It seemed to shake its head, and then regain its balance before approaching the group, seemingly undamaged from the blast.

A loud noise, akin to the roar of jet engines, filled the air, and they looked toward the building they had been moving toward, to see another of the robots – this one seemed to be their big brother, dwarfing the others – coming to a landing, the jets that had carried it through the air shutting down.

Remy had a sense of Déjà vu as he craned his neck to see the head of the robot – it was close to the same height as Abdol when he'd emerged from the nuclear reactor.

"Shit, not good," he muttered, bringing a hand up to his ear. "Stormy, get de hell outta here – we got trouble."

He cursed when he got no reply. "Take dem out – _now,_" he shouted to the others. They scattered when one of the smaller S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s raised its arm, and a muzzle appeared and began spewing out hard rubber bullets.

Remy winced as one of them hit his body armor with a glancing blow, but shook it off quickly, more cards already in his hands.

* * *

Several clicks sounded through the air, and compartments on the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s arms opened and soon the air was whizzing with what seemed to be self-contained taser units.

One whizzed straight at Bobby, and he threw his hands up and outward, shooting out a beam of ice to stop it in its tracks.

His body shifted fully into ice – a skill he'd found he had during the battle at Alcatraz, and had been working on in the weeks since. He turned his hand toward the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. nearest to him, and began to encase its lower extremities in more ice, drawing the moisture from the air to fuel his abilities.

The S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. struggled at the sudden temperature change, the servos in its legs whining as they tried to break free of the rapidly thickening ice. Moments later they heard a loud snapping sound, and some of the ice around one leg shattered as the internal motor reached its limits and popped.

The S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. staggered, and fell on its back, unable to move its legs. Its eyes flashed, and it sent a message to the Prime S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L., which now had its hands full with Rogue, whose blows to its chest were straining its ability to stay upright.

:CRYOKINETIC MUTANT DETECTED – REQUEST ASSISTANCE:

The Prime S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. batted Rogue to the side with a quick movement of its arm, and a compartment on its chest opened up, revealing something that looked similar to a radio array. It was something the Prime had, that the smaller ones didn't simply because of the power required to run it – an Active Denial System.

The Active Denial System was designed by the military mainly for crowd control, and it sent out a concentrated beam of high-frequency electromagnetic radiation, which acted somewhat like a microwave.

That beam, when it came into contact with a person's skin, excited the water and fat molecules, heating the skin up and causing a momentary feeling of intense pain as it passed over.

When the beam came into contact with a person made entirely of frozen water molecules, the effect was much more dramatic, Bobby quickly learned.

As the invisible beam struck him, he felt like the outer layers of his skin were being torn off – which they essentially were as the radiation vaporized the ice making up his body.

He pitched to the ground, writhing in pain as the beam passed over him, and within moments he'd passed out, and the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. turned its attention back to Rogue.

* * *

Remy grimaced, and slammed the charged end of his bo staff down into the face of the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. that Bobby had knocked over, the tip piercing the photoreceptor and blowing up the head from the inside.

The move seemed to distress the remaining S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s, as they began to work harder to corral and subdue the mutants trapped amongst them.

"What now?" Rouge yelled as she slammed her fist into the chest plate of the larger S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L..

"Don' ask me," Remy said, dodging a swift hail of rubber bullets, then rolling backwards to avoid a large metal fist. "Didn' exactly plan on fuckin' Megatron an' all his _hommes_ droppin' out of de sky! What de hell are dese things?"

"No clue!" she shouted back.

* * *

Kurt teleported from one to the next, trying to damage the heads of the robots, and had succeeded with one, which now had a single glowing photoreceptor – the other one left sparking on its face.

But humans, no matter how random they might attempt to be, often unknowingly act in a pattern – something the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s saw, so on his next teleport, one of the undamaged sentinels spun and launched one of its tasers.

Kurt popped back into existence, only to find himself tangled up in the leads of the taser, which then applied a voltage and sent him spasming to the ground.

Remy growled to himself – they were two for one so far, which wasn't good for them. This needed to end, quickly.

Remy reached into the inside of his trenchcoat, and removed two of the slim, metallic bo shuriken he had brought with him to the mansion the day he'd arrived.

He gripped one of the metal stake-like objects between the fingers of his right hand, and charged it up. He ran toward the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. Kurt had damaged, approaching from the damaged side, and its brother S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s didn't get out a warning before it was too late.

Remy leapt atop it, jamming the metal through the damaged eye, and jumped back off as it tried to swing at him. He landed in an ungraceful somersault when the blow hit his back glancingly and threw him off balance.

He counted under his breath as the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. groped at its face clumsily, and five seconds later the team was showered with metal shrapnel and wiring as the head exploded.

Piotr helped Remy to his feet, and Remy nodded slightly toward one of the two remaining smaller S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s. "Double team?" He muttered. "I'll do the boom, you follow up wit' de punch?"

Piotr nodded, and his feet thudded heavily across the courtyard, his heavy metal body leaving footprint impressions in the dirt beneath him.

Remy cocked his hand back, the other bo shuriken gripped between his fingers, and hurled it directly at the face of the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.

This S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. knew what was coming toward it, and moved its head to the side with 'reflexes' almost faster than that of a human. Remy, having expected that, gritted his teeth and focused his will on the object he'd just charged, to detonate it remotely.

The blast next to the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s head knocked it further to the side it had tilted toward to avoid the blast, and by then Piotr was there, bringing his fist down to crumple its knee joint and topple it completely.

Remy sank to one knee, gasping, and swiped at the line of blood that seeped from his nose. While he was able to remotely change his own charge on an object, it took a lot out of him, as it was essentially like a telepathic changing of the kinetic energy of an object – and he had always been mostly tactile when it came to his powers.

"Remy look out!" Dani shouted, as the final small S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. saw the moment of weakness and turned its attention to him.

She grimaced and threw her hands out, a dazzling light emerging from them, which swiftly formed into the Demonic Bear he'd seen her create once before.

The S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. paused, seeming to have trouble processing the sudden appearance, and that was all that was needed for the bear to swing its claw. Despite the fact that it was an image, she'd put enough power into it to psionically make it solid, and the claw tore off one of the arms of the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L., knocking it to the side.

:ERROR – PROCESSING:

:PROCESSING CONFLICTING SENSORY DATA:

:PROCESSING COMPLETE – FEMALE MUTANT CLASSIFIED AS PSIONIC MANIPULATOR – INITIATING COUNTERMEASURES:

A hatch on its chest, in the same location the larger S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.'s ADS had been located, opened up, and a beam of extremely concentrated, high frequency sonic energy erupted from the cavity, directed at Dani.

She clutched her ears against the painful sound that vibrated her eardrums and made her lose her balance. The image of the bear shimmered, and then dissipated into a mix of mismatched images, as the intense sound wave made it impossible for her to concentrate.

The S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. quickly raised its only remaining arm and launched a taser that struck her dead on, taking her out of the battle as well.

Remy grimly pulled out his last deck of cards and began charging them in his hand as the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. turned its attention to him.

* * *

In the air behind them, Rogue was struggling to do more than dent the thick metallic armor of the enormous S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. she was antagonizing.

Having seen Remy and Kurt's luck with the eyes, she'd begun lightning fast strikes near its face, keeping it on the defensive as it batted her away with its large hands.

She finally made it past, and gripped the large metal forehead for a handhold, and began hammering at the protective covering over the photoreceptor with the other.

Just as she cracked through the left covering and fractured the photoreceptor, a small port in front of her opened up and shot out a pressurized, whitish-green cloud of gas into her face.

Pain erupted through her face as the gas contacted her, her throat swelling shut and her eyes filling with painful tears. She lost her grip, and was hammered to the ground by the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s metallic fist while she tried to recover from the blast of concentrated tear gas.

The S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. was then able to turn its 'attention' to its final surviving ally just as Remy and Piotr brought it, too, down – Piotr's metallic fist driving through its face.

:TERMINATION IMMINENT IF ATTACK SUSTAINED – INITIATING SELF-PRESERVATION PROTOCOLS:

The S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. raised its left arm – the other had had its shoulder and elbow actuators crumpled by Rogue earlier and that left it completely immobile at the enormous robot's side. Its hand could still move freely, but it could not lift that arm or move it around.

A round weapon's port rose out of the metal of the arm that it raised, and it launched the same grenade canister it had used to defend itself in the proving exercise before it has been reprogrammed.

The grenade arced perfectly, and landed between Remy and Piotr before it exploded, spraying them and the nearby ground with anti-friction fluid.

Piotr swiped at the liquid, clearing it from his face, and quickly discovered what it was – he took a single step forward, and his feet flew out from underneath him – he landed with a ground-shaking thud, and struggled to get back to his feet, even shifting back to his human form to attempt it.

Remy, who had already been diving away from the incoming grenade, caught the edge of it and slid for nearly ten feet on his stomach, until he reached the edge of the patch.

He, too, tried to stand, but the liquid had covered the soles of his boots, and also his hands as he'd slid across it, and he too fell back, face first on the ground.

Remy cursed to himself, and began to run a kinetic charge to his hands. He winced in pain as the liquid bubbled, and then flashed to steam, burning his palms. But it was enough to allow him to begin to drag himself away from the puddle of frictionless liquid so he could do the same to his boots.

The S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. would have none of that, however, the crosshairs appearing on its single functioning photoreceptor allowed it to train the small defensive minigun in its chest on the struggling Remy, before it spat out a short burst of rubber bullets.

Remy managed a short cry of pain as the bullets hammered against his side, even the body armor doing little to shield him from the kinetic force of each bullet as they slammed the breath out of him.

Rogue coughed heavily, swiping at her eyes when she heard him cry out, the effects of the tear gas finally beginning to wane, and she opened her eyes to see the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. let loose another burst when Remy began to stir.

She tried to call out his name, but her throat was still trying to recover from the chemical attack. She pushed off the ground, hurtling into the air toward the menacing S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L..

She slammed full-tilt into its midsection, metal compartment doors crumpling, hinges tearing away, as she left a human-sized dent on the left side of its chest, sending error and damage messages flashing wildly through its computer mind. The thing suddenly grabbed her leg and pulled her away, tossing her against the brick building nearby.

She shook her head groggily at the impact, and rose into the air yet again, but this time the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. was prepared for her.

She tried to dodge out of the way of a thick wire, nearly as big around as several of her fingers put together, but it was hurtling at her too fast. It struck her chest, and the momentum allowed it to wrap tightly around her arms. The wire seemed to be made of the same material as that of the wires used to transmit power in electric lines.

A sudden, violent jolt of electricity the next moment confirmed it – clearly the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. had been prepared for even the strongest of mutants with what amounted to a super-sized version of the self-contained tasers the smaller S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s had been using.

She tasted blood in her mouth as her body spasmed from the jolt and fell out of the air – she'd bitten her tongue as the electricity caused her muscles to involuntarily contract and relax – and it felt like her muscles had been turned to jelly.

The S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. had been studying its super-strong opponent during the entire battle, and had determined the best way to remove her from the battle was a pre-programmed taser – one usually used to take out vehicles by wrapping around their engine blocks and shutting down the onboard electronics.

As Rogue struggled to force her arms and legs to obey, a second jolt coursed through the wire, and she the little control she'd started to regain was lost yet again – and she whimpered to herself at the thought of this continuing until whatever massive battery powering it ran out of juice.

The S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. swept its photoreceptor across the battlefield, and when it saw no further targets, it swiftly ran a self-diagnostic and determined that if any of its opponents started fighting it again, destruction was likely – the same for any reinforcements the group might have.

It transmitted the battle report to Lang, miles away, and received orders back to take those it could and return to base.

The computer mind carefully assessed each mutant and their powers. It determined the energy required to keep Rogue contained would soon be gone and she'd be able to continue fighting minutes after the battery drained, and it rejected her instantly. Piotr's anti-friction-liquid covered skin would pose a problem of transport, so it struck him from the list as well, and began an assessment of potential value to Lang amongst the remaining mutants.

Rouge bit her tongue again as another jolt course through her, and watched the enormous S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. awkwardly sink to its knees to allow its damaged arm to pick Kurt up in the still-functioning hand.

It rose back to its feet, and then moved over to Remy, and she tried to curse and rage when it shot out a smaller taser across his body, but her jaw wasn't responding.

She watched helplessly as Remy jerked against the electric charge, and felt tears begin to blur her vision as the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. reached down to pick him up with its good hand.

Small jets like those it had used earlier to enter the area emerged from its leg and back, and the whine of the engines filled the now-quiet courtyard. It lifted off on jets of fiery orange, its captives safely in its hands, and it leveled out its flight, and picked up speed, disappearing quickly to the south.

'_Remy….' _Was the only thought that made it to her mind as the enormous taser sparked again, the strain on her body driving her into blissful unconsciousness.

* * *

"Get me Maldrone," Lang snapped at one of the men he was using as a technician, who'd been supervising one of the now destroyed S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s.

Lang shook his head. This had only barely been prevented from becoming a complete disaster. His S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s were simply not as effective as he'd hoped they could be, and while they'd held their own they had just barely been a match against a determined and, seemingly trained, group of mutants.

Maldrone would be less than pleased that they'd lost four of the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s, with the fifth functioning just enough to fly back to them.

Fortunately, thanks to that surviving unit, they would have two very valuable prisoners, and they could get what they needed out of them – find out what the group that had attacked them was and if it was the same that had attacked the other Purifier base.

Lang rubbed his stubbled chin tiredly, and sat back in his chair, trying to think of anything else that could improve his creations, make them more able, more effective against mutants like these so that they could do more than incapacitate the mutants and drag two back at the cost of four of their own.

"I'll be in my quarters – send Maldrone's call to my personal line. And let me know when our unit gets back. I want to see to these new friends of ours as soon as they get here."

* * *

_**A/N:**__ Yes, that's where I'm ending the chapter - we haven't had a good cliffie in a while. Yes, I am evil incarnate – it's alright if you say it. :D _

_Hope you guys liked it – we get to see a bit of Banshee (Sean) and Moira. Then a few cute scenes in there amongst some of our "couples" (now we're just about official with another of them!), and then of course the first battle with a full force of Purifiers and with the SENTINELs… Which didn't go to well for our friends._

_Before I forget – you might think I'm rather evil, but you haven't met the Irish accent. Boy is that thing tough to write. I ended up with just stating it and a few shortened words here and there. The vowels are so changed around, that when you try to write it phonetically like even a Scottish accent, it gets pretty hard to read rather quickly, so I chose to make it easier on myself and on your eyes and let you imagine Sean's accent as you read._

_So, things are quickly coming to a close – only three chapters left (basically two and an epilogue). Next chapter we get the search for poor Remy and Kurt, the fate of Jubilee (I wouldn't kill her… or would I?), and Maldrone gets a surprising present from Lang – someone he thought he'd taken care of about two months before…..._

_I'll see you guys all next week, please give me some feedback – hopefully the action part went okay (frankly it's the hardest part for me to write and I was surprised at the positive reviews on the action a few chapters ago, so I tried to keep a similar formula with this action scene)._


	33. Chapter 33: Torture

_**Disclaimer: X-men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway ;)**_

_A/N: Hey guys, hope you had a good week. Back with the next chapter – we get to see the aftermath of the battle, how things go for Jubes, and the fates of Remy and Kurt. Hope you like it – please read and review!_

**Chapter 33: Torture**

* * *

Carol struggled, clawing her way to consciousness, trying to obtain control over Rogue's body moments after she'd appeared, unconscious, within her mindscape near Carol.

It was a long, painful process – each time she pushed toward full control, the electric jolts still being delivered disrupted any forming thought or mental process.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed before she exhaustedly opened her eyes, but it had been enough that the jolts were coming less frequently, and with less of a kick to them.

She endured one more shock, and then worked on forcing her muscles to cooperate until she could use a fraction of her normal super strength to rip the device from her body, and toss it to the side where it sparked moments later – she'd removed it just in time.

She gasped, tasting dirt in her mouth as she laid face-first in the lawn as her limbs trembled wildly, and she tried to regain control over the muscles of her diaphragm so she wasn't breathing in spasmodic, arrhythmic cycles.

As her breathing slowly evened out, she summoned up the will to force her arms underneath herself and push her up and back onto her knees, and she was shocked at how weak she was. She hadn't felt like this since… well, since Rogue had sat with her as she bled out on the pavement.

Too tired to stand, she slowly crawled over to Dani and yanked the much smaller taser leads off of her, and watched as Dani's body relaxed, and her body began to try to recover.

Carol nearly collapsed at the energy that simple act had taken out of her, and she moved back to a sitting position and closed her eyes. She reached back down to Rogue's mindscape, but found her just as unconscious and completely out of it as she had been when she'd appeared in it.

Carol's eyes snapped open. '_Remy_!' she thought, and struggled to her feet. She held a hand up to her forehead, trying to overcome a wave of dizziness that washed over her at that moment. At the same time, she tried to bring back the blur of Rogue's images that had flashed before her to figure out which direction the robot had taken Remy and Kurt.

Her forehead creased, and she tilted her head slightly until a clear image of that moment came forward in her mind – it had taken them south, over the front of the compound.

She shakily rose into the air, harnessing her powers – now Rogue's – to speed in that direction, climbing higher and higher to try to get a better vantage point.

She held her hand above her eyes, shielding the sun from them, and scanned the horizon, but saw nothing but looming storm clouds to the south, sweeping over the landscape and obscuring vision.

"Damnit!" she muttered, descending back toward the Purifier complex. She had no idea of how long ago the robot had taken them – the pain and loss of concentration of Rogue had shaken the mindscape, and when she'd taken over it had shaken her as well. There was no way of telling how long Rogue had fought to stay conscious, or how long it had taken for her to fully take control. It had seemed like hours but for all she knew it had been minutes…. _Or_ hours.

And the robot could easily had flown to the next block and landed, and she would have never know it. There was little she could do to search now. The mansion had Xavier and the others who could help, not to mention their communication capabilities with Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. who would surely be able to help out.

Carol lighted on the ground next to the spot they'd taken Remy, and picked up the bo-staff he'd dropped. It had slid back into its collapsed state during the struggle, so she gripped its short length firmly in her left hand and moved over to the now-stirring Dani, and she helped her to her feet.

Dani groaned, holding her head. "Did we win?" She asked groggily.

Carol grimaced. "We destroyed the little ones, and did enough damage to scare the thing off. But it took Remy and Kurt. We have to get back to the mansion."

Dani nodded, and Carol could tell she was still out of it, disoriented by the brutal blast of sonic energy she had taken. "You wait here, I'll help the others and we'll get going before the Purifiers start coming to." Carol said, releasing her hold on Dani's arm, letting her catch her balance.

Carol moved across the lawn to where Bobby lay on his side, his eyes partially opened. "Bobby?" She said, kneeling down next to him.

"Bobby?" She repeated, shaking his shoulder, which brought forth a moan of pain from him, and she used her hand to roll him over onto his back. She grimaced at the blackened and tattered uniform, torn or rather burned away across his chest to reveal the injury.

She could see the exact path in which the ADS beam had swept over him and vaporized molecules while he was in his ice form, completely destroying a diagonal patch of uniform from his lower right abdomen and up across his chest to his left shoulder.

The skin was an angry red, puffy, clearly burned, but from what little she knew it was a severe first-degree burn – almost like a really bad sunburn, and the point where it had first hit was second-degree, blistering slightly.

"Rogue?" Bobby asked, the movement jolting him fully awake.

"Bobby, you have to get up – we need to get going, and I need your help."

He nodded slightly, and she helped him up to his feet, and she could see he was trying to keep from shifting too much to prevent pulling on the burned skin. "You okay?" She asked.

He hissed in a breath as he took a step forward and forced himself to take another one. "I can move."

Carol nodded, and gestured for him to follow her to Piotr. "I don't know what this is – some sort of really slippery liquid," she said, stopping near the edge of the puddle of anti-friction liquid surrounding Piotr who laid face first on the ground, no longer struggling. "But, you can freeze it, right?"

Bobby nodded. "Yeah, I should be able to. Hey Pete, shift to your metal form in case I put a little too much juice into this," Bobby called.

A moment later Piotr nodded the best he could, and his body grew as he changed into his bio-metallic form.

Bobby carefully knelt down, and placed his fingers into the liquid, and it began to crystallize around his fingers, the crystals of ice spreading slowly outward toward Piotr.

The frosty bluish-white ice climbed up over Piotr's body, freezing the liquid that had splashed all over him, and then continued on.

A resounding crack sounded through the air, and the ice on his body splintered and slid off as Piotr stood up, finally able to push himself upward. He carefully took several steps, each step indenting the newly formed ice, and then dug his feet in and shoved off, sliding forward on the soles of his shoes. The ice, while still slippery, had changed form enough to negate the properties the liquid had had while fluid.

Piotr slid to a stop at the edge, and inclined his head in thanks to Bobby before shifting back into his organic form. His face was creased with worry as he looked at Carol. "Did you see Remy and Kurt?" He, unlike the others, had been fully awake and aware of what was going on the entire time, simply unable to move.

Carol averted her gaze, and shook her head reluctantly. "No. Let's get out of here before we run into any reinforcements – we need to get the Professor's help."

Piotr sighed, and nodded – it was the only thing they could do, other than search randomly and hope they found someone that had a large lead on them. He grabbed Bobby's arm to steady him, and helped him across the lawn as Carol did the same for Dani.

It took several minutes at their slow pace to reach the other side of the compound, but they ran into no resistance – the only Purifiers in sight were the ones still unconscious and injured that they'd left behind on their fight toward the inside.

"What's that noise?" Dani asked, rubbing her forehead, and they stopped in their tracks when they realized they'd been tuning out the sound of a warning klaxon the entire walk.

"Sixty seconds," a muffled, robotic voice sounded from speakers in one of the building, and drifted out the partially open door. "All personnel evacuate."

Carol's eyes widened, as did Dani's and they met each other's gaze at the same moment. "That sounds like a countdown." Carol stated flatly.

"Um, yeah, let's pick up the speed a little, that usually means a big explosion," Dani said hurriedly, as she widened her stride, still holding onto Carol's arm for support, as they cleared the outer gate, and started moving faster into the clearing they'd left the cloaked X-Jet in.

Piotr grabbed Bobby's arm and forced him to pick up pace to match theirs, and his breath came in pained pants as each step moved his skin and irritated the burns.

Carol found the still-open ramp, and moved up it with Dani, mentally counting off the time in her head.

Piotr and Bobby made it up the ramp and slapped the panel to shut it, the pistons hissing as the motors compressed them and raised the ramp.

Carol froze, staring at the pilot's seat, and looked to the others as they took their own seats, trying to buckle Bobby in the best they could. "Um, who is gonna fly?" She asked, mentally reaching thirty seconds.

Bobby looked up at her incredulously through a wince as he settled the harness near his abdomen. "You are, Rogue – you're the second pilot…."

Piotr shook his head next to him. "Bobby, that's not Rogue – couldn't you tell by the accent?"

Bobby's eyes widened and he looked up at Carol. "You're….. whats-her-name? What happened to Rogue?"

"It's _Carol_," she said, her tone short. "Rogue's unconscious."

"We can't fly," Bobby protested. "That's why we took two pilots on each team," he said – Remy had planned it so that if something had happened to one, there would be a backup for each team – he and Rogue on their team, and Hank and Ororo on the other.

Carol took a deep breath as she reached ten seconds, and then spun around, dashing to the pilot's seat. "I'll do it," she called over her shoulder.

"I've done some sims, and I've flown my uncle's Cessna with him. This can't be much different, can it?" She winced as she said that and looked over the unfamiliar controls. Her eyes lighted on a button that was labeled 'Altitude thruster control', and slapped that. The engines whined, and the X-jet shakily rose into the air.

She gripped the controls tightly, and pulled back. The jet spun a full circle about its center as it jetted forward, but looking out the windshield as she managed to pull them right-side up, she saw they had picked up speed, moving away from the buildings.

A small screen, showing a camera view behind the plane, lit up as the buildings imploded. From what she could see now, they'd likely not been in danger where the plane had been, but there had been no way of knowing how big the self-destruction was. It seemed to be rather controlled, as if the explosives had been designed and built professionally into the buildings as they'd been constructed. Another flash lit up the computer building in the distance on the screen, and she hoped the others had gotten out in time.

She brought her full attention back to the windscreen, and jerked to the side, bringing forth shocked shouts from her passengers as they narrowly missed a church steeple. She gritted her teeth and decided very quickly that the view up front was much more important than the view behind them.

"Dani, could you come up here, and work this GPS for me? I don't really want to take any hands off the controls right now," she said as she slowly brought them higher and higher into the air above the city.

"Alright," Dani said, in a shaken voice. "Just, keep it steady, no sudden moves like that while I'm moving up next to you, okay?"

Carol nodded, gripping the controls firmly, keeping them from moving. "Alright, we're steady. Just plug in the mansion, okay?"

Dani unbuckled her restraints, and gripped the heads of the chairs as she passed them on the way up to sit in the copilot's seat. She sat down and buckled herself in once more before reaching out to the touch screen of the GPS system and began scrolling through menus.

She tapped in the location of the mansion, and pressed the "Navigate" button, and the screen switched to show a map of the surrounding area with a dot representing the plane, a line out in front slightly to the east.

Carol slowly nudged the controls, turning their trajectory until it matched the line on the screen.

Dani looked over, and shot her a shaky smile. "You're doing good, just…. Keep doing this. The only tough part will be the landing."

Carol nodded, her stomach churning as she dreaded the coming landing maneuver that was approaching with every mile that passed quickly beneath them.

* * *

The S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. unit struggled to maintain its altitude as it crossed the countryside, hurtling as fast as it could push its thrusters, to reach its home base before its systems began to shut down. It had already been forced to shut down its primary weapons systems, and lost secondary protection systems halfway into the flight.

The tasers had quickly run out of juice – a self contained unit simply did not have the battery supporting it that a hand-held taser did, so each shock now delivered was weak enough to do little to its captives – and the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. had resorted to discharging electricity through its hands at regular intervals to ensure the captives remained in control.

The circuits of the arm holding Kurt had been severely damaged during its fight, and it was all the robot could do to keep electricity pulsing down to its palm, and it received intermittent signals back from the still-functioning hand.

As it neared three-quarters of the way into its flight, and neared its base in West Virginia, the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. pumped more power into its speed, its frame beginning to shake slightly in the air.

When it hit a pocket of turbulence and bounced around for several moments before it could lower to a calmer altitude, a single wire within its damaged arm came loose of the wire bolt holding it in place, and became caught in the straining motors of the hand nearby.

The motors caught, and automatically reversed direction, attempting to correct for the foreign body, but managed little more than to open the hand slightly before the wire caught again, and the gears clamped down onto it.

The S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. continued sending the short bursts of electricity into its hand, and its CPU could tell no difference from moments before as the wire continued to send the signal that the hand was firmly holding the blue-furred mutant it had picked up.

The S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. never even noticed, at the next patch of turbulence, when Kurt fell from its malfunctioning hand while the robot continued its flight toward its home.

Kurt, however, noticed quite quickly at the sudden lack of contact with the hand, and the now-missing electric jolts. He tumbled through the air, the winds buffeting him as he struggled to tear off the leads of the taser that were still attached to him, and still pumping out weak pulses of energy.

By the time he'd removed it, straightened his fall by maneuvering his arms and legs, and looked back at dwindling figure of the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L., and noticed a figure gripped in its other hand, it was much too far away for him to even make out who it was.

He had a very limited range, but that wouldn't stop him from trying to teleport back. He focused his gaze, tears in his eyes from the wind, on the disappearing S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L., and put his energy into teleporting, and disappeared with a *BAMF*.

He reappeared in a cloud of purplish smoke that dissipated quickly in the wind, and found himself closer, and teleported again, several more times, until he found himself exhausted. While each teleport brought him closer, it drained more and more energy, and he simply couldn't teleport far enough to catch up with the swiftly moving S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L..

One last attempt brought him no closer, and he found himself nearing the ground with each jump, and bringing himself closer and closer to passing out from the exertion.

He took a deep breath, and began a series of short teleportations, decreasing his speed as much as he could as the ground quickly approached.

He managed one final teleportation, toward a field , and braced himself as he slammed heavily into a rolled- up bale of hay, bounced twice more, and rolled nearly twenty feet, coming to a stop near a herd of grazing cows that looked up curiously at the strange visitor.

His body was extraordinarily flexible and durable due to his mutation, and he managed to escape the hard landing with no more than a body covered with bruises, but the violent motion was enough slam his brain around inside his skull, stars exploding behind his eyes.

He managed one last look up at the horizon where the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. was no longer in view, before the blanket of darkness rising up behind his eyes swallowed him up into unconsciousness.

* * *

"So at the moment we have four who have pledged money toward the organization, and would be willing to serve on the Board of Directors. I have a few more I'm still trying to contact, and I'm rather certain they will agree as well." Charles said.

Warren smiled. "Thank you, Charles. I finally got all the paperwork done. It will be a few weeks, I guess, until it's official, and during that time we can get the charter together, and assess the funds. Did I mention I finally came up with a name?" Warren asked.

Charles shook his head, moving the wheelchair around the corner. He'd run into Warren in the hall near the kitchen, and asked him to walk with him as he went back to his office. "No, you –" He held up a hand, falling silent and concentrating.

He looked up moments later, concern written all over his expression. "I'm sorry, Warren, I've been waiting to hear from the team – they went on another mission, and I just sensed them nearby. They're landing in the hangar and someone is injured. I need to get down there."

"Sure," Warren said.

Xavier turned the wheelchair around, simultaneous contacting Annie telepathically to give her as much warning ahead of time as possible.

Warren followed him to the elevator, and by the time it had reached the basement and the doors had opened, the large doors of the hangar slid open in front of them, revealing Ororo and her team, a fragile-looking Jubilee in Logan's arms.

"Get her to the med lab – I just warned Annie a minute ago." Charles said to Logan, who quickly brushed past the group.

"What happened?" He asked Ororo, who watched Logan and Jubilee go, an anguished expression on her face.

Ororo shook her head. "It was a trap. There were at least twice as many people than we expected, and they had some sort of jammers that shut down all our communicators. The X-Jet still can't raise the radio here, whatever they did. We had to retreat, and Jubilee covered for us, but one of the Purifiers got a lucky shot in."

"Where are the others?" Charles asked.

Ororo sighed. "I'm hoping they got out right after we did. I would have circled around and tried to warn them, but Jubilee was….." She trailed off, gesturing toward the Med Lab, where Hank had followed Logan as they spoke.

Charles rubbed his forehead, and nodded. "You did the right thing," he said comfortingly. "There's little we can do but hope Jubilee pulls through. She's a strong girl… I'll go to Cerebro and see if I can get in contact with the others."

Ororo managed a small smile, and nodded at Charles. "Alright, I'm going to see how Jubilee's doing," she said, and Charles turned his wheelchair and moved in the direction of Cerebro's doors.

The others gathered around the entrance to the med lab, and watched – Logan stood to the side, looking lost as Hank applied pressure to the wound, and Annie bustled around the room, grabbing various objects.

Warren, who'd stood in the back, turned at the tap on his shoulder to find Lorna looking curiously at him, her view blocked by his wings. She was carrying a bottle of laundry detergent, and had clearly been on her back from the laundry room. "What's happening?" She asked quietly.

"There was an X-Men mission, and Jubilee was shot," Angel replied, quietly.

Lorna's eyes widened, and a small gasp escaped her throat, and she pushed forward until she could see the room. A hand came up to her mouth at the sight of Jubilee - the energetic and fun-loving girl she had slowly become friends with - lying on the table, her skin deathly pale.

"Damnit," Annie growled loudly inside the room as she looked at a manila folder she had pulled from one of the drawers: Jubilee's medical file. Jubilee was hovering on the edge, and the next several minutes would decide her fate.

Annie looked up to Logan, and the gathered group. "She needs a transfusion. She's type O negative, which would be great if she was donating, because it works with any blood type, but she can only take her own type when she needs some herself – does anyone have O negative? Logan?"

Logan shook his head, frustrated. "B positive."

Warren cleared his throat. "I'm O negative."

Annie's eyes lit up as she looked over the shoulders of the others to where he stood in the back, and rushed forward. She pushed Ororo and Sam aside, and grabbed his arm. "Do you have any genetic disorders, STDs, anything like that?" She asked, pulling him into the room.

He shook his head, blushing slightly at the last bit. "No, nothing like that."

Annie took a deep breath. "Will you let me transfuse some of your blood into her?"

Warren nodded. "Of course…."

She pushed him into a seat next to Jubilee's bedside. "Great, we need it," she said, moving over to a tall cabinet, and beginning to search through several drawers.

She shook her head. "Never done a mutant-to-mutant transfusion, so I hope this works the same. It should, but you never know. But without it, she's not going to make it."

Warren saw Logan clench his jaw tightly, and an anguished look appear on the faces of the others, including Lorna's face – Warren knew the two girls had become close over the past several weeks.

Annie returned with a device that had two long tubes, attached to a syringe-shaped object, each ending with needles. "A bit old fashioned, but we don't have time to collect blood and then transfer separately – it's got to be direct," she said, turning Warren's forearm up toward her and swabbing it with alcohol.

She swiftly inserted the needle, and it took Warren a few moments to even feel that it was in. She did the same to Jubilee's arm, and began working the device. Warren quickly felt the slow pull of his blood being pulled into the device, and watched as it mixed in the center, and then moved over to the tube on Jubilee's side, and into her body.

Warren leaned back into the chair, and glanced over to where Lorna was looking at him with a grateful expression, As Annie moved between Warren and Jubilee, checking their pulses and breathing rates.

Several long, deathly quiet minutes passed, before Annie sighed. "I think we're out of the woods." She chewed her lip for a moment. "If you don't mind, I'll keep the transfusion going for a few more minutes, Warren."

He shook his head. "Take as much as you need," he said, although he was starting to feel the very first hints of light-headedness.

Annie smiled, and patted his hand. "Thank you."

She looked up to Hank, who was still holding her bandages in place, the flow of blood much slower now with the pressure applied. "Let's stitch her up quickly." She said, reaching over to a tray of medical tools to grab the surgical thread.

* * *

Lang strode into the hangar, and grimaced at the sight of the damaged S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. as it landed. Its armor was pockmarked in places, and torn off in others to completely expose its wiring and delicate innards. He clenched his fists.

"Bitch," he muttered, the image of the young, skunk-headed mutant woman that had done this coming easily to mind. He'd taken a still-frame of her of the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.'s footage, and currently had his computer running through face recognition software, hoping he'd find a match.

He growled in frustration as he neared the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L., which now stood at attention, when he realized the damaged arm had apparently ceased functioning, and lost grip on the mutant it had carried. Now he'd have to appease Maldrone with a single mutant from this whole fiasco.

"Release him, and then run a full self-diagnostic and send it to Master Mold," Lang commanded – he'd set up a voice-command interface for his and Maldrone's vocal patterns, so even if for some reason they couldn't get to the Master Mold, or something had gone wrong, they'd still be able to control the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s.

:ACKNOWLEDGED: The voice of the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. grated out, an odd squeal in the background of its voice projection.

Its damaged photoreceptor blinked, and then went out completely as it released its hold on the trench-coated mutant it had picked up, letting him fall roughly to the ground.

Lang walked over, and bent down to peer at the mutant, whose unnaturally colored, red-on-black eyes fluttered open slightly. Lang grabbed the collar proffered by one of Boss' men, and reached down to snap it around his neck, neutralizing his powers.

"Who are you?" Lang muttered, more to himself than the mutant on the floor in front of him. "And where did your little team come from?"

He shook his head, and stood up – they'd eventually get those answers out of him with enough time and effort – and he was certain Maldrone would enjoy overseeing that: the man had a flair for the unconventional when it came to torture and coercion.

Lang brushed off his hands, as if trying to rid himself of the short contact he'd had with the mutant, and gestured to the men.

"Take him to one of the cells, and start him with a little greeting – show him what we think of his kind. I'm going to be in the Master Mold – let me know when Maldrone is ready to come out here," he said.

He sneered, and swung his foot full force, into the mutant's stomach, causing him to gasp for breath, his eyes rolling back into his head as he slipped from semi-consciousness back to unconsciousness.

Lang cursed. "Damnit! He's got some sort of body armor on – take that off too, and give him the proper welcome," he said, before he turned and attempted to stride from the room without limping too badly – the toes of his foot pulsing in pain from the full-force kick to the body armor he'd not realized was there.

* * *

"Let's never do that again," Bobby said as he slowly made his way down the ramp of the X-Jet with the others.

"I don't plan to," Carol said.

She'd managed a landing at the mansion – barely. The gaping hole of the hangar bay beneath the basketball court yawned open nearby, and the mangled metal basketball hoop on the ground nearby, as well as the ten-foot long trench in the grass was testament to the 'barely' part.

Carol had circled three times, trying to get enough control over the vehicle to lower it safely into the hangar, but she had missed each time, drifting to the side as she began to descend. She had settled for landing topside and not risking running into a wall on the way down and tumbling out of control.

As it was, she'd clipped one of the basketball hoops, and still had a bit of forward momentum as the pads had touched ground, leading to the furrow in the soil.

Logan met them at the back door, obviously having heard the rather obvious racket they'd made landing. "We were beginning to wonder if you'd made it out," he said. "We got ambushed, and the comms were out so we didn't know if you had."

Carol nodded. "Us too. You run into the robots?"

Logan's brow furrowed. "No, just a hundred or so Purifiers…. Carol, right?"

She nodded, not surprised that he had sensed it so quickly, having seen her on their mission with X-Force while she had taken control then. "Yeah, Rogue's out of it for a while."

He looked over the clearly injured Bobby, and the ruffled looks of the others, and then frowned as he looked past them. "Who crashed the plane?"

Carol looked down, a hint of embarrassment on her face, but felt a bit affronted at his description of her landing as a "crash".

Logan nodded. "Figured. Why didn't the Cajun-" He stopped at the look of grief passed over Carol's face – a mixture of her own and Rogue's.

"He… we fought off and destroyed most of the things, but one got away. It took Remy and Kurt. I tried to follow when I got control, but it was already gone. Figured the Professor could find him. Or we could get Fury…." She said, trailing off.

Logan sighed. "Damnit. Alright, let's go talk to Chuck, then I'll get my phone and call Fury." He glanced over to Bobby. "You should probably be looked at too, kid."

"Robots, huh?" He asked, as he led the group down past the kitchen and toward the stairs.

Carol nodded. "One about the size of Abdol, four more about your height. Durable as hell, all of them had all sorts of tasers, rubber bullets, that sort of crowd control weapons. The big one got away, but Rogue did a number on it before it took her out."

"Just what we need," Logan muttered.

"Alright, Bobby, you head down, get yourself checked out. Might have to wait, Annie's pretty busy." He passed a hand over his face. "Jubes got shot, and Annie's taking care of her."

He raised a tired hand when he saw the panicked looks on their faces. "She's gonna be alright, Annie's got her patched up. Go on down and see her, I can talk to Chuck on my own."

As they began to move toward the stairs, Jimmy, who'd been around the corner on the other set of stairs and listening to them, came around in front of Logan. "Mr. Logan, what's going on?"

That moment, as he stepped around, Carol pitched over, face-first on the ground, and lay motionless.

Dani, who had tried to catch her as she began to fall, turned her on her side. "Rogue? Carol?" She asked, worriedly, shaking her shoulder.

She looked up and shook her head. "She just passed out."

Logan relaxed, and then looked at the three of them, inclining his head toward Jimmy. "C'mon, kid," he said, placing a hand on Jimmy's shoulder.

"I'll tell ya what I can, if ya help me find the Professor, how 'bout that?"

Jimmy nodded, a worried gaze locked on Rogue. "Is she okay?" He asked as Logan grabbed his arm and steered him toward the computer lab and Xavier's office.

"Yeah, she's alright, just strained herself with her powers. They'll take care of her," Logan said, his voice fading as he moved away from Dani and the others.

"What was that?" Bobby hissed.

Dani shook her head. "Jimmy cancels out powers. And I think one of Rogue's is actually when her psyches take over, and when he got close enough, Carol got kicked back. Logan just didn't want him thinking he'd caused it."

Piotr bent down, and carefully picked Rogue up, ensuring her skin wasn't near enough to his for an accidental absorption. "Let's go see Jubilee, and get Bobby and Rogue to the Med Lab."

* * *

Annie pulled the stethoscope away from her ears, and stepped back, looking at her patient. "Alright, you can go," she said, having just given Warren a thorough examination. "You gave a lot of blood, though, so just take it easy the rest of the day. No flying – I don't want to hear about you passing out and falling out of the air, alright?"

Warren smiled slightly. "Alright – no flying."

She patted his shoulder. "Thanks for your help."

Warren nodded, and stood up, feeling the bandage pull on the skin of his arm as he moved. He shot one last glance to Jubilee, who was lying unconscious on the nearby bed, before he moved out of the room to the others in the hall.

Annie had ordered everyone else out, telling them they could see Jubilee when she woke up, and that she didn't want them disturbing her now. The others all sat at various places in the long metal-walled hallway, and they looked up as the doors slid shut behind him.

"Annie said she's going to be fine," he said, as he moved to stand over next to Lorna.

"Thanks," Lorna whispered, leaning closer to him, and touching his hand.

"No problem –" he stopped what he was saying as Dani, Piotr, Bobby, and an unconscious Rogue reached the bottom of the stairs nearby.

Ororo stood up, and hurried over to them "Thank God you're back. Is she alright?" Ororo asked, looking up at Piotr who held Rogue in his arms.

He nodded. "Just unconscious, she'll be fine. We ran into Logan upstairs, he told us what happened. We were ambushed too, some sort of robotic mutant-hunters." He sighed, knowing the next part would be hard – Remy was one of her closest friends, and she had also come to know Kurt quite well since he'd been back at the mansion.

Piotr shook his head. "We got away, but…. They captured Remy and Kurt and flew away with them."

Ororo closed her eyes, and anguish passed over her face, drawing her features into a tight grimace. "Damnit," she said softly.

She slowly opened her eyes again. "Is Logan…."

Dani nodded. "He knows, he's talking to the Professor right now."

Ororo sighed heavily. Her stomach churned at the thought of Remy and Kurt in the clutches of mutant-haters like the Purifiers. "Alright, Logan will do what needs to be done – right now we should get these two in to Annie," she said, nodding at Bobby and Rogue.

Ororo moved ahead of them, and entered the door of the Med Lab first.

Annie raised an eyebrow, looking up from Jubilee. "I thought I said no one…"

She stopped and sighed when she saw Rogue being carried by Piotr, and Bobby limping in, his the burn on his body standing out clearly to her.

"Alright, come on in. Pete, set her down over there," she said, pointing to a nearby bed. "You, come over here," she pointed Bobby to the chair near Jubilee's bed that Warren had sat in minutes before.

She moved over to Rogue's side – someone unconscious needed to be checked out first, given the many things that could be wrong, as opposed to someone with a burn.

She pulled on a pair of latex gloves to keep her skin from contacting Rogue's, put the stethoscope back to her ears, and shook her head slightly. "Can you guys go on a mission and _not_ get injured?" She muttered to herself as she pulled Rogue's shirt up, and placed the pad of the stethoscope to her chest.

* * *

Rogue jolted upright seconds after she regained consciousness, the last memory in her mind that of the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. carrying Remy and Kurt away. She just narrowly avoided cracking heads with Carol, who was kneeling next to her in her mindscape.

Carol jerked back, and nearly fell over, not expecting the sudden movement from Rogue.

"Carol?" Rogue asked, looking around in confusion. "Carol, it took Remy," she said, her voice shaking slightly.

Carol nodded, and squeezed her arm. "I know. I took over for you, but by the time I broke out of that damn wire, they were long gone. I flew around for a while, but…." She held her hands out helplessly.

A tear slid down Rogue's cheek, and she bowed her head, her fists clenching in her lap.

"I'm sorry, Rogue. I got the others back to the mansion, and Logan's getting the Professor to help, and he said he was going to call Fury. I'm sure they've got satellites watching all over the place, and they can follow that robot thing. We'll find him," Carol said soothingly, pulling Rogue into a firm hug.

Rogue nodded against her shoulder. "Ah won' stop, Carol. Ah'll tear every Purifier base apart if they can't find him. Ah…. Ah never told him Ah love him," she said bitterly.

Carol cupped Rogue's chin in her hands, making her look up to her: in her mindscape there was no fear of her powers, as it was skin contact – not the mental equivalent of it – that triggered them. "I know you will, and I know you never really got to tell him, hun. But, he knows it. He'd be blind not to. And enough of that talk – you'll tell him after we tear apart all those bases," she said, smiling.

A small smile managed to force its way onto Rogue's face. "Yeah."

Carol moved back slightly to grab her hand, and pull her to her feet. "Get going then. I'm not gonna let you mope around," she said, winking at her. "Warning though – you might be a bit sore – that electricity was jerking your body around pretty bad."

Rogue nodded, and squeezed her friend's hand. "Thanks, Carol."

Rogue let herself fade slowly from the mindscape, and take control of the conscious part of her mind once again. She groaned at the instant flare of pain from pulled muscles as she awoke – Carol certainly hadn't been exaggerating about that bit.

She cracked her eyes open, and pushed herself up into a sitting position on the bed. Annie spotted the movement, and moved quickly over to her from Jubilee's side.

"Hey, welcome back," Annie said, a slight grin on her face. "I could've used my nurse-in-training a few hours ago. How do you feel?"

Rogue stretched slightly, feeling her muscles scream in protest. "Alright. Sore, but Ah'm okay. Wish Ah could've been here helpin'." Her eyes, concerned, glanced over at Jubilee, whose abdomen was wrapped in white gauze bandages. "Jubes okay?"

Annie nodded, and began to give Rogue a brief look-over. "It was a bit scary for a few minutes, but she's stable now. Fortunately the bullet went straight through, and managed to miss anything too major."

Rogue grimaced. "Ah was wonderin' what happened…. The others alright? Ah'm guessin' they got ambushed too."

Annie glanced toward the closed door. "Yeah, they're okay. Bobby has some burns, and will be hurting for the next week or so, but everyone else made it out with only a few cuts and scrapes."

Annie set down the small flashlight she'd used to shine into Rogue's eyes to test for pupil reactions. "Alright, you're free to go."

Rogue stood up, and hesitated, biting her lip. "Are yah sure yah don't need any help?"

Annie nodded, and squeezed her shoulder lightly. "Yes, everything's under control. Go on, I think Ororo's waiting for you to wake up – help them find Remy, you'll be no use to me when you've got that to worry about," she said knowingly.

Rogue smiled gratefully, and walked over to the sliding doors, and exited the Med Lab, to find Ororo sitting against the opposite wall, the rest of the corridor abandoned.

"Rogue!" She said, standing up quickly. She moved over and pulled her into a hug. "Are you alright?"

Rogue nodded, hugging the white-haired woman tightly. "Yeah," she said, and her voice broke slightly. "Best Ah can given everythin'."

Ororo pulled back, and looked at her with concern clear in her eyes. "Logan's talking to your government group right now, and they're sending people over to the base to figure out what those robots were. Kitty grabbed a few computers when we were attacked, and I have her and Piotr going through the files to see if we can find anything useful."

She leaned forward and kissed Rogue's forehead gently. "I know how hard this must be for you, but we're going to find him. He's been through worse…"

Rogue nodded, and then her head shot up as what Ororo said made her think of the other person the news would be hitting hard. "Where's Sarah?"

Ororo's eyes widened, and she brought a hand up to her mouth. "I…. I don't know, I haven't seen her. I should have thought about her reaction, but…. I've been so worried about everything…."

Rogue placed a hand on her shoulder for a moment. "It's alright. Ah'll go find her…. Hopefully she hasn't heard yet."

* * *

It was late in the evening when she had awoken in the Med Lab, and the sun had already set by the time she found Sarah, the stars slowly beginning to appear in the sky above the mansion grounds.

She'd searched the mansion, from Sarah's room to her own, to Remy's. She'd asked the remaining students if they'd seen her, and no one could really recall having seen her since earlier in the afternoon – even Jimmy who could often be found with her had been looking for her.

With the usual places exhausted, she'd looked in the garage and the library with no luck. She'd nearly slapped herself in the forehead when she had glanced out the kitchen window – she had not looked down by the stables.

She knew she had the right idea when she neared the building and saw the door slightly open, and she pulled it fully open, her eyes adjusting to the near-pitch black of the building. She heard Sarah's soft sobs before she even spotted her.

"Sarah, Ah've been lookin' all over for yah, honey. What are you doing out here in the dark?" She asked softly, moving over to where Sarah sat near one of the stalls, her legs pulled up to her chest, face against her jean-covered knees.

Sarah looked up, and Rogue saw long tear tracks glisten on her cheeks in the dim light. "R-Rogue, Remy's gone…" She said, her face crumpling.

Rogue dropped to her knees next to the younger girl, and pulled her into a tight hug. "Figured yah must've heard when ah couldn't find yah." Rogue said. "No one knew where you went.

Sarah nodded against her chest. "Most people don't notice when you stand by them an' don't say anything." She said, clutching onto Rogue desperately.

"He- he _promised_ he'd come back. They said he got taken by the things that hurt you."

Rogue closed her eyes, a few tears of her own escaping down her cheeks. "Ah know, sweetie. Ah'm worried about him too, but he's comin' back. It'll jus' take a little longer'n he planned. Ah'll find him an' bring him back to us."

"They're gonna h-hurt him, aren't they? They're the same ones that killed everyone in the tunnels."

Rogue ran a comforting hand rhythmically up and down the smaller girl's back. "Probably. But nothin' our Remy can't handle. They're the ones that should be worryin'. Remy's probably hurtin' them as much as they can hurt him."

That finally coaxed a slight smile from Sarah, and she looked up at Rogue, tears still streaming down her face. "He would, wouldn't he?" She said softly.

Rogue nodded, and reached up to brush Sarah's disheveled hair out of her face, and trace a gloved finger up and down against one of the tear tracks on her cheek. "He's way too much for any of them t'handle. An' we're lookin' for him. The team Remy an' Ah joined… they're gonna look too, an' they have a lot of government resources to help. We'll find him soon."

"Let's get yah back to the mansion, okay Sarah? Remy won' be very happy to come back and find you sick with a cold from bein' out in the damp like this," Rogue said, standing up and easily lifting her in her arms.

Sarah nodded against her shoulder and let her carry her out of the stables and toward the mansion. She gasped suddenly and tightened her grip when she felt Rogue lift off into the air, flying toward the third floor windows on the outside of the mansion.

"Sorry, should have warned yah. Didn' think you'd want all the attention right now if we went in the regular way." Rogue said, as they lighted upon the balcony of one of the rooms.

She pulled the door open, and took Sarah inside, setting her down on the bed. It took a moment for Sarah to recognize Remy's room. She looked up questioningly at Rogue.

"Ah figured we'd both sleep better bein' as close as we can t'Remy. Ah'll stay here with yah."

Sarah nodded, and kicked off her shoes, scrambling up the bed to pull aside the sheets and curl up in them, and moments later Rogue joined her.

"I can't lose him, Rogue," Sarah said quietly, several minutes later, calmed by the scents of the room: Remy's aftershave, the hint of cinnamon and tobacco from his cigarettes.

Rogue lifted her head from the pillow and turned her face toward Sarah, reaching a hand out to run it along her arm. "Ah know sweetie. Neither can Ah. Ah love him so much…." She said, whispering the last bit.

Sarah nodded. "I know you do. I heard you that night at Dani's parent's house."

Rogue's gaze snapped up to hers, surprise written across her face. "Yah were awake?"

"Yep. I didn't say anythin' because I didn't want to push you two – Storm told me not to. Remy loves you too, y'know. He talks to me about you in the same tone he does when he tells me he loves me," Sarah said, smiling softly.

"Ah wish Ah told him…" Rogue said mournfully.

Sarah nodded knowingly. "I did too, when he went to find you when you absorbed Carol. But I got the chance later. An' I think he's wishin' he told you too. He's a little shy about saying it about you – I think he got hurt by a girl he liked before he knew us."

Rogue's mind flashed to Ororo's words the night he'd woken up after coming to the mansion, about how he'd been hurt badly in the past. "Ah think you're right. Ah guess we both have a similar experience…" She trailed off, thinking about her aborted relationship with Bobby.

Rogue scrunched her nose slightly, and looked back to Sarah with a slight grin. "What happened to me bein' the adult, comfortin' the kid? Ya'll are mixin' it up on me now."

Sarah giggled softly, and moved closer, her arm sliding around Rogue's waist to keep her close by. "Thanks Rogue, I'm glad you found me. I needed you."

"Ah'm glad too, honey," she said, and the room fell quiet but for their breathing, and the faint sounds of those throughout the mansion.

* * *

Logan, Rogue, Ororo, and Xavier waited near the front door, early the next morning, as a black government-issue vehicle pulled up in the driveway, and Nick Fury got out, in the middle of a heated conversation.

Fury bent back into the car to grab a folder, propping the phone between his ear and his shoulder as he reached back to shut the door, and slowly move toward the mutants waiting to greet him.

Fury took the phone back into his hand, and brought his mouth closer to it.

"Why in the _hell_ am I just hearing about this from you now, General?" Fury all but growled into the mouthpiece, a frown etched onto his face.

There was close to a minute of silence as he listened to the man on the other end, before he shook his head. "No, General, I don't care if you thought you could find it on your own. This is a matter of national security, and I should have been informed of this the _minute_ you knew, not over a week later, and then only after prying it from you after the damn things attacked my agents. Goodbye, _General_, I'm sure the President will be more than interested in what I have to tell him. I expect the full details of your little project sent to me within the half hour," Fury said, and snapped the phone shut before the man on the other end could even formulate a response.

Fury sighed, and massaged his forehead with his hand for a moment, before looking up to the others. "Sorry. So here's the deal: these robots are part of an advanced military project. DARPA's work, it seems. They went out for testing down in Arizona about a week ago – some sort of proving exercise. The Army approved the project, and they were heading back to D.C. to begin full-scale production."

"The convoy carrying them was hijacked somewhere along the way, and apparently the Army's been searching for them since. They've been keeping it quiet, hoping they could find them without bringing anyone else in, and of course without bothering to inform S.H.I.E.L.D."

Fury shook his head. "I sent a team of techs out last night to the Purifier base. Most of it's gutted with the explosives they had set up, but the robots weren't reached, and and they were still like you left them. They're some sort of advanced AI, called S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s, supposed to be the future of war – all robots in the field, no soldiers at risk. One of the developers has gone AWOL and taken them with him – apparently to the Purifiers."

"Do we know where they went?" Rogue asked quietly.

Fury shook his head. "Not at the moment. The smart bastards hijacked them in the middle of a big storm – we have no idea how they took it over or where they went – all the witnesses in the convoy are dead. And unfortunately it was pretty damn cloudy around the base you attacked, which blocks most of our satellite images. We got them flying away to the south for a few miles and then they disappear. I've got my people scouring hours of images to the south, east, and west of there, but that sort of thing takes time. Hopefully we'll get lucky and catch them peeking through a gap in the clouds, or appearing somewhere there wasn't cloud cover."

He flicked through the folder he'd taken with him. "We're also looking for reports of sightings, or anomalies detected on airport radar in the area, but that's taking time as well."

Nick looked to Charles. "If you don't mind, I'd like to set up a base of operations here, if you've got an empty room somewhere. We might just need your team as well once we find them. The rest of my team is coming – they'll be here in a few hours, and hopefully by then I'll have the General's report on what these S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. things are and what they're capable of, and have some sort of lead on Remy and Kurt."

Xavier nodded. "Of course. School is out for the semester, so I can set you up in one of the classrooms. Like I mentioned, we managed to salvage several computers from this, and we're going through them now – hopefully that will help us."

Nick nodded, and gestured toward the car, and Agent Carter emerged, carrying several duffel bags, and a laptop bag. "Your Cerebro – that find anything?"

Charles shook his head. "Unfortunately, no. That could mean they're unconscious. Or using some of those neutralizing collars we found them using last time," he said, raising an eyebrow to Fury.

"Or dead – you've got to consider that too, Charles," he said, not seeing Ororo quickly reach over to grasp Rogue's hand.

Charles shook his head. "They had the chance at the compound. No, I think they want them quite alive, for information. They want to know who we are – who has been raiding their bases."

Fury chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment, and then inclined his head in assent. "You're probably right. Well then, let's just hope we find them before they tell the Purifiers what they want to know. Because at that point they _will_ be useless to them."

* * *

Remy spat out a mixture of saliva and blood onto the floor at the feet of his 'guard' even as the man slammed his fist once again into his stomach, driving the air from his lungs.

He'd been handcuffed, the chain of the cuffs running around a solid steel pipe in the ceiling of the dank room he'd been placed in. The guards came in to regularly beat him, preventing him from falling to sleep any time it looked like he might, and he knew quite well they were trying to break him through pain and sleep deprivation.

Time had seemed to acquire a strange property during his stay, and it felt like he'd been there for days, but his internal clock told him it had only been overnight.

At this point, he was beginning to not really feel much of the beatings – his body already felt like one giant bruise, and there was little they could do to cause him pain beyond anything he'd felt and endured in the past.

The door to the cell opened, and a man walked in – the straightening up of the guard told Remy it was the man in charge of things. "Well, let's see just who Lang managed to bring me, at the cost of four of his S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s," the man said as he strode further into the room.

Remy heard the irritation in his voice at that, but it was something else that caused a small smile to appear on his lips – he _recognized_ the voice. Remy lifted his head from where it had been hanging down with his chin on his chest, and his grin grew when he saw the horn-rimmed glasses of the man in front of him, and the eyes behind the glasses widening in shock as he realized just who his captive was.

"You!" Maldrone gasped.

"Well hello dere, fancy meetin' you here. What's a girl like you doin' in a place like dis?"

"How – you should be dead, you little snake!" Maldrone said, striding forward, and backhanding Remy across the face.

Remy stared back at him unfazed, his red-on-black eyes dancing at the rise he was getting out of the man that had tricked him into helping plan the Tunnel massacre. "_Non_, I'm as alive as I should be, given de incompetent you hired to kill me. I mean really, hirin' Boudreaux? Y'could have at least hired Belladonna – she wants me dead as it is an' de fee woulda been a bonus. Instead you hire her incompetent little brother to do it. De little bastard didn' even try to find my body after he shot me."

The guard, sensing his superiors' rising anger, and hearing the impudence with which the prisoner was addressing him, slammed a booted heel into his side, causing pain to explode up the length of Remy's body.

The muscles of Maldrone's jaw clenched and unclenched several times, before he took a deep breath to try to keep Remy's words from affecting him, and he quickly regained control of his temper. "Actually, I'm rather glad you lived. Because it brought you here to me, so I can have the pleasure of killing you myself when we've obtained the information we need from you. And now I get the chance to thank you for your help."

Maldrone grinned. "We'd never have been able to kill all those muties without your help, Mister LeBeau," Maldrone said, "It must feel good to know you were instrumental to the first shot in our war against mutants – the first act in the eventual forced extinction of your race."

Remy took a deep breath, not letting Maldrone get to him. "Mentionin' dat won' get a rise outta me. I made my amends for my part – your little teams gonna serve life when de New York courts get done wit' dem." Remy said.

The grin on Maldrone's face was wiped off, and Remy was rewarded with another backhand across the face, this time with more force, enough for stars to light up behind Remy's eyes as his head snapped back.

"Must've hurt you a lot to lose Zdravko. Didn't it? He was your best man, an' I blew him t'bits an' you've been strugglin' since to replace him." Remy said, smirking against the pain.

"Hell, even your little robots could barely hold their own – an' de one dat survived wasn' lookin too hot when he dropped me off. Figure dat's what, couple million to even start repairin' it, not t'mention de millions y'lost back in New York," Remy said, mixture between a pained cough and a laugh emerging from his lips.

Maldrone visibly shoved down his reaction to Remy's words, and shook his head. "Just make this easy on yourself, LeBeau. Tell us who your little group is, and I'll give you a quick death."

Remy spat out a large gob of saliva he'd been building up in his mouth – more blood than saliva at the moment, really – straight into Maldrone's eyes before he could react, and laughed harshly as Maldrone stumbled back, swiping at his face.

Maldrone cleared his eyes and strode forward, kneeing Remy forcefully in the stomach. "Little bastard," he spat, "I'm going to _enjoy_ breaking you, and when you've given up your little friends, you're going to die, slowly." He all but growled as Remy retched in front of him.

Maldrone turned to the guard. "Bring him to me tonight – no sleep, no food, no water. And tell Lang that I need to talk to him. He's going to get me just what I need to make this little mutie sing his heart out." Maldrone said, turning to stride out of the room, slowing only momentarily at the bitter, ironic laugh that echoed around the room from Remy.

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**A/N:**_Muahaha, I believe this one could be considered a cliffie as well (evil grin). Two in a row! Hope you enjoyed it. Slightly shorter than last chap, but that's just how things flowed._

_Thanks for all the great feedback next chap, and hopefully you can forgive me for cliffie-ing you guys again. :D So, Jubes is gonna make it, Remy's being tortured, Kurt is knocked out in a field somewhere, and everyone's looking for them._

_Next chapter, we see some leads, and then the big rescue mounted by both X-teams. Only two left now – this next one and the epilogue one after that. We're coming down to the end pretty quickly now, and I think you'll enjoy it._


	34. Chapter 34: Search and Rescue

_**Disclaimer: X-men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway ;)**_

_A/N:Thanks for the great feedback, and let's get on with the chapter! Read and Review!_

**Chapter 34: Search and Rescue**

* * *

Kurt woke up to a mixture of the scents of incense and burning candles. The smell seemed so familiar to him – it reminded him of visiting the churches of Germany, something he had quickly found was best done after those at Mass left, given his appearance due to his mutation.

Kurt grimaced at the deep, dull ache of his body, which seemed to be pulsing in time with the much more painful pounding of his head.

When he opened his eyes, he found that he was in a room, lit by dozens of candles that lined the outer perimeter of the room. The walls themselves, painted a dark blue that made the room seem even darker, were covered with numerous arcane signs – pentagrams, paintings of angels and demons, runic scripts, and other symbols and paintings. There were several low, long dressers, each holding a number of round clay jars, and large multi-colored crystals. Several objects that looked like daggers or knives rested on what appeared to be a low altar, which also contained several statues of Greek gods and goddesses.

"_Vas_?" he muttered to himself, and tried to straighten up on the soft bed he was lying on. He regretted that instantly when his left arm exploded in a mind-numbing pain, and he hissed in a breath, clenching his teeth – he felt his tail writhing beneath him at the intense pain.

"Hey, you're finally awake," a soft, melodic female voice came from his left.

He turned his head swiftly, not having noticed the person during his short look around the room.

A young woman sat in a low armchair to the left of the bed. Her hair was blonde, cut raggedly near her neck, and streaked with blue and green highlights. It contrasted starkly with her dark purple lipstick and heavy eyeliner around her eyes. She was wearing a tight black tank top that accentuated her rather curvy figure, and he saw it had been ripped almost deliberately in several places near her stomach. It matched a rather short black-and-white skirt, and a nearly knee-high pair of black boots that tightly encased her long legs.

Kurt couldn't miss the fact that she was a rather beautiful girl, even with the nose-piercing, eyebrow studs, two golden rings through her lower lip, and earlobes studded with piercings – not something he had really been acquainted with until he'd come to America, and certainly not something one typically saw on people leaving Mass each Sunday. However, the thing that stood out to him the most were her bright, aquamarine eyes – the most brilliant shade of blue he'd ever seen. All her other features, and her makeup seemed to do nothing but frame them, and make them stand out even more.

"Who?" Kurt began, trying to sit up again but failing once more.

"I'm Amanda. Amanda Sefton. What's your name?"

Kurt shifted until he was a bit more comfortable, and could see her more clearly. "Kurt Vagner."

"Nice to meet you, Kurt. How are you feeling?" She asked.

"Like I ran face first into the ground, und didn't use a parachute." Kurt said, groaning at the throbbing of his head and his shoulder.

"Well good, because that's about what happened. You fell right outta the sky – it's lucky I was outside with the cows and saw you land."

"Vhere am I?" Kurt asked groggily, fighting past his headache to try to get his mind working.

"My room," she said, smiling slightly and leaning forward, closer to him. "I brought you back to the house. I'm glad my dad's away at the Agri-Con – he'd freak if he found a mutant here. You _are_ a mutant, aren't you?"

"_Ja_, I am. Your father does not like mutants?"

Amanda shrugged. "Not really. He's….. pretty conservative about that sort of thing, y'know? I'm probably lucky he hasn't freaked out more than he already does about me and all this," she said, gesturing around the room. "But he needs me here – ever since my ma died I've helped him with the farm, and I don't think he could handle it without me."

"Ah, I understand. My father vas very much the same." Kurt said.

Kurt tried to sit up once again, and bit back a moan of pain.

Amanda stood up and helped him move into a sitting position on the bed. "Hey, just take it slow. You're lucky to even be alive. I don't know how you managed to survive that fall with only a dislocated shoulder," she said, nodding toward his arm.

She moved over to one of her dressers, where a mug sat, and she brought it back over to him. "Here, drink up. This's my ache remedy. Doesn't taste that great, but it works a lot quicker than an Advil. Once you're feeling a little better we can have a look at that shoulder."

Kurt took the cup with his un-injured arm, and peered into it – it was a greenish-brown liquid, with visible, tiny chunks of herbs floating on the surface, and the smell wafting from it reminded him of algae or seaweed. "This?" He asked, trying to hide his skepticism.

She chuckled. "Yes, that. Drink it fast and it's not too bad."

He took a deep breath, and gulped the contents of the mug down, grimacing at the taste and the oily, slimy texture as it slid down his throat. He shook his head as he felt it trek down to his stomach. "Ach, vhat is in this?"

Amanda smiled and took the cup back from him. "Just herbs and things – they work really well. Took a while to get the mixture right – you wouldn't want to taste what I used to have."

"Vell I….. I….." He stopped as the liquid finished settling, and almost instantly, he felt the pain in his body diminish, and his headache nearly disappear. Even the pain in his arm became much more tolerable. "That- that is - it vorks so quickly….."

Amanda nodded. "Told ya. Now, let's see about your shoulder," she said, leaning forward.

He shook his head. "It is alright, I haff had this happen to me plenty of times before," he said, thinking back to his days in the circus. "I can set it back into place."

He maneuvered the limp arm around to the other side of his knee, and then clasped onto it beneath his leg, as if he were trying to hug the leg. He braced himself, and then pulled firmly backward, stretching his back while he kept the grip on the leg, until he heard a soft pop as the shoulder returned to its socket.

He moved the arm experimentally, and despite the pain, it now moved as it should. He cradled it back to his chest, and looked up at Amanda. "_Gut_."

She stared at him with slightly widened eyes. "I… guess that works. Still hurts though, doesn't it?"

She didn't wait for him to nod, but instead moved forward, gently touching the shoulder with her cool fingertips. "My potion doesn't work on the really bad stuff, but I can help you, if it's alright…."

He nodded. "_Ja_, if you can help, please do it."

"Alright, just hold still," she said. In the next moment, it became clear to him that she was a mutant like him, when an orange-yellow glow surrounded her fingers, and moved from them to settle around his shoulder.

The glow coming from her hand gave off a warmth that grew as it kept in contact with him, and soon it felt as if he had place a hot-pad on the joint. The heat, and whatever else the glow contained, swiftly soothed the inflamed joint, and the swelling eased. The pain slowly dissipated until it was the same light background ache the rest of his body had obtained from drinking her 'potion' as she called it.

"_Mein Gott_," Kurt breathed. "You are amazing. _Danke_."

She blushed slightly, and leaned back, her hands leaving his shoulder to reach up and play with an ankh necklace that hung around her neck. "You're welcome. It's just my gift, and I like to help people with it if they need it."

She reached back up to touch his shoulder. "Did I do enough, or does it still hurt at all?"

He shrugged, and then rotated the shoulder around. "_Nein_, you removed all of the pain."

She smiled, and then glanced at his blue skin as her fingers began to trace along the curved symbols scarred into his flesh. "These are beautiful. You do them yourself?"

"_Ja_. Each one."

"It must have hurt. I mean, I got a few tats and they weren't too pleasant, but you've got these all over…" She said, tracing her fingers down his arm, sending pleasant tingling up the skin. "They remind me of the runes I use when I'm casting."

"_Vas_ – casting?" Kurt asked uncertainly.

"Yeah – casting. Y'know, spells?" She said, gesturing toward the small altar on the other side of the room, and the pentagram-circle surrounding it.

Kurt's eyes widened as it finally clicked together, and he started to wonder just how much his brain had been rattled by the fall that he hadn't made the connection before. "Ah – you are a _Hexe_ – a…. witch?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I prefer Wiccan though – less of the bad connotation with the word. How else did you think I was healing you?" She asked with an amused expression on her face.

"Vell, I thought you were a mutant…. Like me." Kurt said slowly.

Amanda shook her head. "Nope, I was only able to do this after I got into Wicca – I'm pretty sure I'm not a mutant."

"I see," Kurt said, nodding, although he suspected she was, and that her mutation had developed – like in many people – in her early teens as she was getting "rebellious" and getting into things that her father wouldn't approve of in her bid for independence, and she had simply made this connection to magic – rather than a mutant ability – being the cause of her powers.

"So where are you from, Kurt?" Amanda asked, finally removing her hand from the scars on his arms.

"Germany. I spent most of my life in Munich."

"Really? I figured Germany with the accent – but yeah, my dad's from Munich too. He was born there, but only lived there until he was five before my grandparents came over to the US."

"It is a small world, like they say," Kurt said, smiling slightly. "So you haff always lived here…. vherever here is?"

She nodded. "We're outside of Glenville. Small town in West Virginia. Yeah, I've always lived here. This was my grandad's farm when he moved over, and my dad's been running it since he passed away, and now it looks like I'll probably be continuing the tradition I guess."

"But that is not vhat you vant to do?" He asked, noting a hint of resentment in her voice.

She glanced down at her lap. "Not really. I'd like to go to college – art school actually. Just sell the farm to someone interested and get out of this place."

Kurt nodded. "_Ja_, I know that feeling. Sometimes vhat your family wants you to do isn't always what you vant to do."

She flashed a brief smile. "Exactly. I'm already twenty-one, and I've hardly ever been out of the state. I want to leave and experience things like all of my friends are."

"Friends…." Kurt muttered, and then sat bolt upright when he finally remembered just what it was that had had him falling from the sky. "Amanda, I need to call my friends – one of them is in danger, and – it's complicated," he said, reaching down under the blankets for his right boot, when he realized he wasn't exactly fully clothed.

"Vhere are my clothes?" He asked, blushing.

"Oh, right," Amanda said, still confused by his sudden urgency. "They're over in the corner," she said, pointing to them, "I….. figured you'd be hurt a lot more than you were so I took them off so I could see where you were hurt…. Sorry…."

He shook his head. "It is fine. I just need my boots."

She stood up and moved to the corner of the room, and grabbed his boots, bringing them back to him.

He dug his fingers into the edge of the left boot, where a small compartment had been sewn on the outside to hold the backup team communication device each of the X-Men had.

He fished it out, took one look at it, and closed his eyes. "_Scheisse_," he muttered to himself.

Some time, either during the fight with the robots or during his landing in the field, the entire communicator had snapped in half, leaving the two halves strung together by several wires.

"What's that? What's wrong, Kurt?" Amanda asked, touching his arm.

"This… this vas my communicator, so I could contact my friends. I am part of a team of mutants that helps others und works against those that hate mutants. Ve vere…. On a… a mission you vould call it und ve were attacked, und I vas taken away with one of my friends, und the others were injured. I vas dropped along the way somehow – that is vhy I fell into your field. I haff to talk to them."

"Team of mutants – like, that group that showed up and stopped Magneto in California?" Amanda asked.

"_Ja_," he said, nodding. "That team. I vas not along for that one, but my friends vere."

Amanda's face lit up. "Wow. You guys are, like, my heroes – I've been searching the internet and news articles to try to figure out who you are. This's….. really cool," she said, grabbing his hand.

Kurt smiled slightly. "I'm glad to see ve have fans. Could…. could I borrow your phone? I think I remember the number, und I really need to call…"

"Sure, I'll be right back – it's one of those handset things – my dad 'doesn't believe' in cell phones." She said, rolling her eyes as she stood up once more and moved quickly out of the room.

Kurt watched her go, and then closed his eyes, trying to keep some rather…. impure thoughts at bay, and managed to turn his still-recovering mind to thoughts of the mission-gone wrong, and the person who'd been taken with him. The faint memory of a brown trenchcoat flapping in the wind as he tried to teleport back to the robot gave him a pretty good guess as to who had been taken.

"Rogue is not going to be happy to hear this," he muttered to himself.

* * *

Remy blinked wearily as he was jerked back from a few precious seconds of sleep by a sudden blaring of an airhorn in the confined space of his brightly lit cell. He glared in one general direction at the unseen guards and then shifted, letting his arms, which were strung up above him by his handcuffs, get into a better position.

He wasn't sure precisely how long he'd been there, but he knew it was close to a full day, and the guards had kept quite stringently to Maldrone's demands, starting him out with the basic sleep deprivation that was a staple of any interrogation/torture. Any time it looked like he was falling asleep, they would blare different noises through the small room to keep him awake.

Overall it didn't bother him that much – he'd been without sleep for much longer in the past, in fact one of his jobs which involved a very heavily secured place with constantly changing security tactics and rosters, he'd remained awake for over sixty hours straight until he spotted the exact moment to slip in through a perfectly aligned sequence of guard movements.

The thirst bothered him much more – they'd followed their orders with that respect as well, and his mouth was dry, longing for a drink of _anything_. The beatings, constant and ever-present, were small change to him. It had been nothing he hadn't experienced in the past.

But the thing that was getting to him the most was wondering about the others – Rogue and Sarah in particular.

He sighed, and pushed those thoughts away – there was little he could do now, and he knew that Rogue and the others would be coming to get him as soon as they could. He knew he could hold out against these interrogations until then, and he'd hazily seen Kurt get away so he knew they would be able to figure out where the robot had taken him.

Remy turned his gaze to a fixed point in the corner of the room, and started up yet another imaginary poker game in his head – it was his fifth since he'd been brought to this cell, and it helped pass the time and take his mind off of the entire experience.

He made it uninterrupted through three hands: a win, a fold, and one loss against one of the imaginary opponents his mind constructed for him who, he had realized by the second game, bore a striking resemblance to Rogue – so much so that he didn't mind too much losing to her.

Halfway through the fourth hand, however, he was interrupted by the door of the cell slamming open, and Maldrone stalking in. "What's the name of your little group, LeBeau? Where are they?" He asked, his face close, almost snarling the question.

"D'you mind? I was jus' finishin' dis hand, an' I got a pair of pocket aces dat're gonna win it for me." Remy said, annoyance in his voice.

Maldrone looked at him strangely, a bit put off by the seemingly random statement. "Get off it LeBeau. Seems like we're breaking you a lot quicker than I thought we would. Who do you work with?"

Remy shook his head. "Fuck off an' let a man play his hand."

Maldrone snarled, and slammed a heavy fist into Remy's side. "Tell me, LeBeau. It only gets worse from here."

He stared quietly at Remy, who then turned his attention back to the corner wall, and muttered something under his breath about a third ace on the river card.

Maldrone took a deep breath – he wasn't sure if the mutant was breaking, or if this was just a display. He turned and snapped his fingers at the short man he'd left near the entrance of the door, who brought forward a small black toiletry bag.

He reached in and pulled out a pair of pliers. "Alright, you little freak," Maldrone murmured, and swiftly placed the clamping end around Remy's pinky, squeezed, and then twisted it to the side until he heard the bone snap.

Remy flinched slightly and clenched his teeth before slowly, cooly, turning his gaze to Maldrone. "Dat ain' gonna get you nowhere, Ronny. I've had so many bones broken, dis'll be pie. Don' you got anythin' better? Or you dat unimaginative?"

Maldrone dropped the pliers, and leaned forward to knee his prisoner in the groin, and as he finished gasping and trying to double over from the first blow, he did it again.

Remy hacked out a cough-mixed with a shout of pain, and saw stars behind his eyes, but shoved the pain away as quickly as he could. "Ronnie, ain' you seen _Casino Royale_? Dis one didn' work on James Bond, y'really think it'll work on me?" He asked, his voice hoarse, gasping for air.

Maldrone barked out a short laugh, and shook his head. "Damn, you are one cocky son of a bitch, I'll give you that, LeBeau. But sooner or later you'll break. I'll find the thing that will do it, and by that point you'll be a sobbing pile of bones, begging me to kill you."

He pulled out a switchblade, and carefully opened it, reaching up to grab one of Remy's hands.

"Really?" Remy asked, grimacing at what might be coming. "De old finger trick? C'mon, de Yakuza got you a hundred times over on dat one."

Maldrone shook his head. "No, I won't cut off your fingers…. Yet. First you'll squeal, and then I'll do it, and mail them off to your little friends one by one. No, I have something else in mind."

He gripped Remy's left hand, and slowly pressed the tip against his palm, and pressed forward. Remy bit his tongue, and clenched his eyes shut as the knife sliced and stabbed through the flesh of his palm, just missing the bones of his hand, and then emerged on the other side, a long trail of blood flowing down his hand and arm.

"_Putain_," he spat, taking in sobbed breaths of pain. "Little bastard, you're gonna regret dat."

"I think not," Maldrone said, grinning sadistically as he gripped the knife. "You'll betray them soon enough. I won't regret a thing."

He twisted the knife from side to side, before yanking it out of Remy's hand, and Remy found himself fighting back a wave of nausea and intense, stabbing pain.

Maldrone stared hard at him for several more moments. "I'll let you think about this, LeBeau. When I come back I expect the information."

Remy shook his head as Maldrone turned and left the room, handing the blood-soaked knife to his assistant.

It was, in fact, the very thing that Maldrone wanted, that would keep him going, and keep his mind focused. He knew the minute he gave up the information, he was dead. But more importantly, the minute he gave it up, Maldrone would go after the mansion, where Sarah and Rogue were. It was their faces constantly in his mind that kept him going.

Remy clenched his left hand into a shaky fist, despite the lancing pain of the movement, and stopped the blood flow as best he could. He took a deep breath, fighting down the second wave of nausea – primarily because he knew there was nothing in his stomach to force out in the first place.

"Where were we," he muttered, gazing once more at the corner of the room. "ah, de big reveal," he said, mentally flipping over his pocket aces, and smirking as he collected the chips from the middle of the table as one of the other imagined players, who looked suspiciously like his brother, tossed his cards down in frustration. "Henri always did have a bad poker face."

* * *

Kitty returned to the classroom that had been set up as a sort of base of operations. Piotr sat in front of one of the spare monitors they had scrounged up, which was hooked up to one of the computers Kitty had taken during the mission.

Several other monitors were set up around the room, but were unattended – one was the one she'd been working on, and the other two had been looked at by one of the people that had come to the mansion, part of the secret team Remy, Rogue, and the others had joined.

'_Jamie_,' she recalled to herself, remembering how he'd split himself into two identical versions of himself and sat down at each computer. He'd finished with the computers, and disappeared to wherever Fury and the rest of his team were in the mansion.

"Hey Pete," Kitty said as she came up behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder and leaning over slightly to look at the monitor he was looking at.

"Kitty," Piotr said, jumping slightly as he hadn't heard her enter. "Did they answer?"

Kitty nodded. "My mom did. Daddy's line was busy, but I told her to let him know. She…. wasn't exactly happy that I'm not coming home today, but I already got the tickets refunded and set for Sunday for the same price instead, so there wasn't much she could say."

Piotr nodded – he'd already taken a few minutes away from their work to call his own parents, who had been rather understanding, begging him to be careful. They knew he was part of the X-Men, and had an idea of how it could be dangerous, but likely didn't realize the full extent of it.

"So you getting anywhere on this one?" Kitty asked, nodding at the screen.

Piotr shook his head, and pointed to the fractured image. "This one seems to be really damaged. I haven't been able to find more than a few uncorrupted documents on here, and none of them have been useful."

Kitty sighed. "My fault. I thought I saw a spark when I grabbed this one – I must have accidentally phased into it a bit when I was trying to pull it out. Alright, let's give up on this one. I think…"

She stopped when she saw Rogue enter the room and give her a soft smile. Rogue was followed by Logan, Ororo, the rest of the uninjured members of the team, and by the members of Fury's shadow team. Bringing up the rear was Fury himself, talking quietly with Xavier next to him.

"Anythin'?" Rogue asked hopefully, moving to stand next to Kitty.

Kitty shook her head. "This one, no. Same for those two," she said, gesturing at the two Jamie had searched. "This one, however, I think we've got some interesting things. I do know they were in contact with a Purifier base in the South. The wording in one of the e-mails hinted at that, maybe somewhere close to D.C.. I can't say it's where they took him, but it's a possibility."

Kitty grimaced slightly, looking at her teammates. "Also found a log. Aside from those robot things arriving a few days ago, I found out they _did_ grab those mutants they were talking about in the news, but they shipped them out. We missed them by a day, and I haven't been able to find where they sent them."

Charles closed his eyes, and rubbed at his forehead. "A day…." He muttered, but then shook his head. "There's little we can do now about that. Did you find anything else?"

"Not much, unfortunately. If I'd had more time back at the base I could have looked for the most used terminals and probably would have got some that had a lot more information, but…" She shrugged.

Fury grabbed his laptop, and turned it around on one of the tables in the room so that they could see it. He tapped in several commands, and a map of the United States came up, each state hosting one or more small red dots in seemingly random places.

"This is our database of suspected and confirmed Purifier bases." He tapped on it with the mouse and it zoomed in toward the D.C. area. "If they _did_ take them to the base you found a mention of, we've got a few possibilities – one here in south-west West Virginia, one here near D.C. in Virginia, and one in Maryland."

"I'll get our intelligence looking into those three," Fury said, turning the laptop to type out a brief e-mail to the agents back at the Helicarrier. "See if they can find any unusual activity or have seen anything that might hint which one they're being kept in."

Fury glanced up as he tapped the mouse to send off the e-mail. "I got the files on these S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. robots, and finally finished looking them over. They were being designed as the ultimate soldier – a soldier that always followed orders, never slept, with a single-minded determination to complete its mission."

"It seems one of the men on the group developing these things, Stephen Lang, was secretly a member of the Purifiers, and helped the group steal the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s." Fury said.

"The good news is that what you encountered is about the extent of what they can do. They were designed to be non-lethal, because of objections by those higher up, worried about a sort of 'Terminator' situation being a possibility. Thankfully they kept them from putting on all the assault and sniper rifles that had been planned."

Fury spread his hands. "Now, I don't know if they've split up all the rest, but there are four more units like the one you encountered. That's a possible twenty more of these things at whatever base we end up going to, if they didn't send them off like they did this group. Plus the one that took Remy and Kurt, although from what you told me it likely won't be in any shape to fight."

Piotr nodded grimly. "That's…. a lot. At least we'll have everyone here," he said, nodding to the others around the room.

"I know," Fury said. "When we do this, you all will be the first sweep, and then I'll send in several squads of my human agents. We've got a few EMP-type weapons that might work on them, so they'll go through taking out anything you miss. From what I've been able to tell, if you act quickly enough it takes them a while to figure out how to respond – "

He was interrupted by a low ringing that sounded like a cell phone. Everyone looked puzzled, automatically pulling their cell phones from their pockets to see if it was theirs.

When it wasn't, and they actually paid attention to the noise, it led their gazes to the corner of the room. Kitty had kept her boots on after the mission, and then taken them off during the previous night, tossing them into the corner, and the ringing was coming from them.

Rogue was the first to react, realizing it was the communicator, and realizing that everyone else on the team was right there in the room so it wasn't them calling. She stood up quickly, her chair tumbling behind her, and strode over to the boots, removing the small device.

"Hello?" Rogue asked breathlessly as she thumbed it open, answering it.

_'Rogue? Is that you?'_ Kurt's voice asked over the connection.

"Kurt!" Rogue said, looking at the others, who all moved quickly to gather around her and the phone, and she switched it into its speaker mode. "Are yah alright?"

"_Ja_, I am alright. I-"

"Kurt, is Remy there?" Rogue asked, interrupting him.

There was a moment of long silence. "No, I am sorry. The robot malfunctioned as it vas taking us away, _und_ it dropped me. I tried to get back to Remy but it vas moving too fast. I barely made it to the ground. I'm sorry."

Rogue closed her eyes for several moments. "It's alright," she said quietly, handing the phone to Fury, who was standing next to her.

Logan placed an arm around her shoulders as Fury took the phone, and she leaned against him, heaving a big sigh. "Ah hoped…." She whispered.

"I know, kid." Logan said simply, squeezing her shoulders.

"Kurt, this is Nick. Do you know where you are? We weren't able to track the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. – the robot that took you, and we're trying to figure out where it could have taken – well, just Remy now."

"_Ja_, I landed on a farm, _und_ the owner has been taking care of me. Ve are in…" There was a moment of murmured voices – his and a female's voice – over the line, before he came back on. "In the suburbs of Glenville, in West Virginia," Kurt said finally.

Neena was already next to Fury's laptop, and she typed in the name and had the database search for it. Another small dot, green this time, appeared to the north of one of the red dots.

She tapped the screen. "Here. Look, it's along a perfect straight line between the base you raided, and the West Virginia Purifier base here. Sounds exactly like what a robot would do if it was really damaged and trying to get its prisoners back – shortest distance to its home base."

Fury nodded, and turned back to the phone. "Alright Kurt, we'll pick you up sometime in a few hours – I'll have some men come over for you. We think we know what base they're operating out of, and we'll stage a strike as soon as we can."

"Alright, I vill be here. I vant to be in on the strike."

"You will, Kurt, if you're feeling up to it. I'll be in touch. Fury out." Nick said, turning off the communicator.

He turned to look at the others. "Well, what are you waiting for? Get your things ready – I'm gonna need all of you for this mission, if you're up for it. We'll stage from our _Icarus_ base down by Norfolk. I'll call ahead and let them start to get their teams ready. We'll move either tonight or in the morning tomorrow, depending on how much intel we've got on this place. Can the Cajun hold out until then?" He asked, looking toward Ororo.

"He'll make it. It'll take a lot longer than two days for them to even start to get anything from him. And anything they do get will be a lie." Ororo said.

Fury nodded. "Good, let's go. You take your jet, we'll send you the coordinates for rendezvous when we get out there. Rogue, you stay with the X-Men, get them ready and fly with them– you'll know how to direct them to the 'Carrier. Logan, I need you to come with us, start getting a preliminary plan of assault together with Dom."

Logan grunted his assent, and leaned down to kiss Rogue carefully on the forehead. "You alright here?" He murmured.

Rogue nodded. "Yeah, Ah got it. You go ahead, Ah'll meet you there," she said, letting Logan pull his arm away from her shoulder.

Jamie and Clarice grabbed the bags they'd carried into the room the evening before, when they'd arrived, and Domino grabbed her own after handing Fury his closed laptop.

She paused near Rogue as she followed Fury and the other two out of the room. "You holding it together enough for this?"

Rogue's expression tightened, her eyes hardening. "Yeah, Ah'm fine. Jus' hopin' Remy'd be there when Kurt answered."

Domino nodded, a knowing look in her expression. "I know how it feels. You're doing good, just keep your mind set on Remy – it helps."

"Thanks, Dom." Rogue said, as the older woman patted her arm and then picked up her long duffel bag and carried it out of the room.

Xavier looked around the slightly diminished team, absent Jubilee and Bobby, both too injured to come on this mission. "Alright, get suited up, and collect whatever you need to bring along. I hope you will not run into any more of these S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s, but good luck is not usually something our team has when it comes to things like this. I had Nick download the schematics the military provided into the X-Jet's computer so you can look them over on the trip. Good luck."

Ororo stood first, and filed out of the room, moving in the direction of the stairs, and the others soon followed.

Xavier rolled his wheelchair over to where Kitty and Piotr still stood at the far end of the room. "Kitty, if you have anything that could help us get into the Purifier systems, please bring it – I want you to get as much information as possible before the team goes in. We don't want a repeat of this last mission."

"Sure Professor, I'll bring what I need." Kitty said, and Xavier inclined his head, moving toward the exit of the room.

Kitty turned her gaze to Piotr, her eyes traveling up to settle on his face. "Ready for this Pete?"

He nodded solemnly. "Yeah. I could do little to help Remy before, and I intend to make up for that."

Kitty nodded, and placed a hand on his arm. "Alright. D'you mind carrying the good hard drive down to the Jet? It might come in handy, and I've gotta run up to my room and get some stuff."

"I've got it, go ahead," Piotr smiled, and turned toward the computer, and began to disconnect it from the monitor as Kitty jogged out through the wall closest to the staircase.

* * *

Xavier paused in the elevator, holding the door for the person he'd sensed had been following him – and before that hovering near the door of their meeting room. "Come on in, Jean," he said, a smile in his voice.

Jean grinned sheepishly and slipped into the elevator car next to him, and let the doors slide shut behind her. "Sorry, I was waiting for you to be alone, to talk."

Charles nodded. "I know. I'm heading for Cerebro, if you'll join me," he said, gesturing forward as the elevator reached the basement level and the doors opened.

"Charles, I heard about Remy. I want to help. I want to go on the mission."

Charles stopped his wheelchair, and turned to look sternly at her. "Jean, you know I can't allow that. The risks….. they're just too great."

She looked at him determinedly. "But you said we're making a lot of progress. I can _feel_ that we are."

"And you are. Just not enough to keep her in check during an intense mission like this. On the ground with the others you'd simply be a liability – Alkali all over." Charles said.

Jean sighed, and ran a hand through her hair in frustration. "They'll need a pilot, Charles. Someone to get them out of there if things go badly. If I go in just as pilot and stay on the Jet, I won't be a liability, will I? And that would free up Ororo for the mission itself – and I'm the best pilot you have here."

Charles frowned, and stroked his chin. "I… suppose if you promise to stay on the jet and go strictly as the pilot…. That could work. But nothing else," he said sternly.

Jean nodded, and leaned down to kiss his cheek, which rewarded her with the rare sight of Charles Xavier blushing. "Thank you, Charles. I'll tell the others."

"Be careful, Jean. If she breaks out again, I fear we may not be able to cage her – your mind will be too damaged."

She looked seriously at him over her shoulder as she turned back toward the hangar. "I know, Charles."

* * *

Rogue zipped up her team uniform the rest of the way, and then looked into the mirror as she picked up an elastic band and gathered her hair behind her head with her free hand and started to wind the band around the ponytail she'd created.

She turned it around on itself several times around the ponytail, and finally let it snap firmly into place. She lowered her hands slightly, and brought them to her face, rubbing at her eyes.

She took a deep breath, and then stood up, grabbed her regular clothes and tossed them into her locker. She grabbed the pair of black gloves that were a part of her team uniform, and slowly slipped them onto her hands as she walked out of the changing area, and into the central room where the uniforms were kept.

She sighed when her eyes automatically came to rest on the exact spot where, over a month-and-a-half ago, she'd first kissed Remy. "Yah better be alright, Remy, or Ah'll kick your ass," she muttered quietly, trying to keep the stabbing feeling in her heart from affecting her – she needed to, like Domino had said, be clear-minded for this.

"Rogue?" Sarah's soft voice came from the doorway, interrupting her train of thought.

"Hey sweetie," Rogue said, glancing up at the younger girl. "What're yah doin' down here? Ah was jus' gonna head up an' find yah."

Sarah fidgeted slightly, her fingers twisting together in front of her. "Everyone was gettin' dressed up for a mission, an' I saw Mister Logan leave really quickly with those S.H.I.E.L.D. people. Did- did you find Remy?"

Rogue nodded. "Yeah, we're pretty sure we know where they took him. We gotta go to this other base to get ready, an' figure out how to break in an' get him. We're goin' in either tonight or tomorrow mornin'."

Sarah nodded, clearly trying to fight back tears. She'd woken in the night several times next to Rogue, nightmares about Remy afflicting her sleep, and Rogue had held her as she cried herself back to sleep each time.

"Ah'll bring him back to us," Rogue said, reaching out to touch Sarah's cheek.

Sarah moved forward, throwing her arms around Rogue. "I know," she said, her voice muffled against Rogue's shoulder.

Sarah turned her head, and looked up at Rogue's face. "Please be careful, Rogue. I don't wanna lose you either."

Rogue felt her throat tighten, and she simply nodded, hugging the younger girl tightly. "You're not gonna lose me, or Remy, sweetie." She said, stroking the back of her head softly.

* * *

"That is my ride," Kurt said, as the sounds of helicopter blades thumping grew closer, and turned into a constant pitch, and several moments later a knocking came at the door nearest to the front of the building.

Amanda nodded, helped him stand up, and then walked with him to the front door.

"Thank you, Amanda", he said, grabbing her hand. "For taking care of me like this, und helping me. It vas nice meeting you."

She smiled. "Maybe…. Maybe we'll meet again sometime." Amanda said.

Kurt nodded. "Vell, I live in New York, but I guess anything is possible."

Amanda shifted the small covered cup she held in her other hand, and then pressed it into his hands. "I hope so. You never know, we might see each other again sooner than you think. Here's another of those potions, when the other one starts to wear off, if you need it."

Kurt inclined his head. "Thank you, I think I vill need it," he said, and turned the doorknob to open the door, and found a man with a S.H.I.E.L.D. insignia on his tactical vest waiting for him.

"Mister Wagner?"

"_Ja_, I'm ready." He said.

He started to move out the door to follow the man, and then he looked down when he felt a piece of paper crinkle in his fingers next to the cup.

He glanced down, and smiled, blushing slightly when he saw what it was – her phone number.

He looked back up to where she stood, chewing nervously at her lower lip, her arms crossed, eyes hopeful.

"Goodbye, Amanda. I think you might be right, ve just might be seeing one another again soon," he said.

She smiled, her expression changing to relief and satisfaction. "I'd like that. Maybe even somewhere over dinner….." she said, winking slightly.

Kurt chuckled, and nodded. "That vould be a very nice place to meet."

"Mister Wagner, I hate to break this up, but… Colonel Fury wants us back as quick as possible."

Kurt nodded, and shot one last glance at Amanda. "Alright, I am ready."

"Good luck!" Amanda called after him as he followed the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent to the still-running helicopter.

* * *

Rogue smiled at the look on Kitty's face when she saw the enormous, cavernous, computer room on the _USS Icarus_. It was almost as priceless as the expressions on _everyone's _faces when they'd first spotted the enormous Helicarrier hovering over the outskirts of Norfolk.

That particular moment had been marred slightly by nearly being shot down moments later – it had been several tense moments before the security team manning the series of anti-aircraft guns confirmed that the unfamiliar jet was, indeed, cleared to land by Nick Fury himself.

"Don't drool, Kit," Dani whispered next to her friend, and Kitty's mouth snapped shut, and she shot a glare at her.

"I wasn't drooling, just…. admiring," she said, her eyes drawn back to the room.

Large monitors hung from the walls, displaying various news channels, satellite feeds from places around the world, and views from beneath the Helicarrier, of the city below. The floor of the room was lined with desk after desk of computers, large monitors glowing brightly in the dim-red lights of the room, technicians at each one, all running various tasks.

Fury straightened up from where he had been standing across the room, hunched over a computer near the other members of X-Force. He waved their group over to him, and they quickly moved across the room, drawing interested looks from the occupants of the room.

"Sorry about your landing," Fury said. "Forgot to make sure the defense team knew about you coming."

Ororo nodded. "It's alright, we're getting used to people trying to shoot us down," she said, smiling wryly. "Do we have anything new?"

Fury smiled grimly. "Well, we were right on the base, that's where they took him. Once we knew where to look we found a few police reports about people seeing a strange flying machine in the area. The S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. got a bit sloppy as it came in, and we managed to freeze a split-second blur on a weather camera near the base, and got that," Fury said, nodding up to a large screen in the corner, which showed a blurry image of the robot – the outline of Remy visible in its hand.

He frowned. "It's a big base. We have a few schematics of the general layout, but they could have changed it a lot in the past two years since it was built. Right now we're trying to break into their network, get some better intel on the situation, figure out where Remy is before we go in, but it's been hell finding even a crack in their firewall."

The group gathered around the two computer terminals that had been dedicated to the operation, and Kitty slid up next to Logan to watch over the shoulder of one of the techs, at his computer screen.

"You're not going to get in that way," she said, after several minutes of silence, watching what he was doing.

The tech, a man in his late twenties with slicked back, moussed hairdo, turned his head to look at her, his expression annoyed. "Excuse me?"

"The network – you're not going to get in the way you're trying to. We'll be here for days before you get anywhere." Kitty said.

The man shook his head, shooting her a condescending look, and turned back to the computer screen. "I'm sorry, kid, but I'm the one here with a Master's in computer science, who has been working for SHIELD for the last ten years. What were your qualifications again? You look like your still in high school – leave it to the experts."

Kitty's eyes hardened – if there was one thing she hated it was being spoken down to by someone else like that. "College, actually, and I just happen to be the person that's been in and out of half a dozen Purifier computers the last few weeks, and I know how they're set up, and you're _not _getting into them that way."

"Listen, when you get a job here, you can –" The man began, but was cut off by Nick's voice behind him.

"Killian, it sounds like she knows what she's talking about. Why don't you take a break, and let her have a try, okay?" Fury said, moving up beside Kitty.

Killian tossed down the pair of headphones he'd had hanging around his neck, and stood up. "Fine," he muttered, storming off.

"Sorry about that, he's not my usual tech for things like this. You think you can get in?" Fury asked.

Kitty nodded, and eagerly sat down in front of the computer monitor in the seat Killian had vacated.

The young, blonde-haired woman who was sitting at the terminal next to her leaned over, as small grin on her face. "_Thank_ you for putting that arrogant jerk in his place. He's been insufferable, thinks that since he's been here longer than the rest of us he knows everything," she whispered, and extended her hand. "I'm Courtney, by the way."

"I'm Kitty," Kitty said, shaking her hand. "Just wait until we hack into this thing without him – that'll really get him." She said, grinning.

"Where do we start?" Courtney asked. "We were just banging our heads against a wall for the last hour."

Kitty turned to look at the screen, and wrinkled her nose. "Windows? You guys aren't even using Linux?"

Courtney shook her head. "That's Jules' preference – I've got Unix here," she said, patting her keyboard. "Here, switch me, I'm fine with his setup."

"Thanks," Kitty said gratefully, rolling backward in the chair, letting Courtney take her place before she moved over in front of the other computer.

"Alright," Kitty said, pulling out a thumb drive. "I've been working on a Trojan Program. I've got it looking identical to the Purifier setup for their time-sheet program. I think it will fool their firewall. But what we need is to flood their server connections, get them searching for another route to the internet, trick them into contacting _our_ servers, and we send this little guy down the line to them and we're in."

Courtney's eyes lit up. "That might just work. I like how you think. I'll start setting up the flooding, you get your little program going."

Kitty smiled. "Let's get crackin'," she said, pushing the thumb drive into the USB port of Courtney's computer.

* * *

"Alright, we are officially in," Kitty said, turning her seat around to look at the others, nearly a half-hour later. She raised her hand and gave Courtney a hi-five, grinning excitedly.

Fury leaned closer to peer at the computer screens, and then leant back, a pleased expression crossing his face. "Very impressive, Kitty. When you're done with college, you should come talk to me – I think I can guarantee you a job offer if you want it."

Kitty's cheeks turned pink. "Thanks. That…. That might be kinda cool."

"Now," she said, turning back to the computer. "Let's find the schematics, and see if we can figure out where Remy is."

Courtney found the schematics of the base first, and sent the image up to the big screen above them, blowing them up for the others to see them better. "There you go with those," she said.

Logan looked up at the screen, his eyes flitting over the blueprints, trying to decipher them, find the places most likely guarded well, and the places that breaking in would be the easiest.

Kitty tapped away at the keyboard, the clacking of the keys seeming loud in the hushed corner of the room as she sped through the main directory of the server she'd managed to get her Trojan to infect and get her in through a back door. She searched each directory for the keyword she was looking for, from her experience with the Purifier hard-drives.

"Here we go," she muttered. "Video camera system," she said. "Let's have a look at our friends."

Kitty tapped in a command and her screen brightened, shifting into a picture from a security camera, which showed a narrow corridor, Purifier men and women moving up and down it. She tapped another button, and the image changed to another hallway, stayed up for a few seconds, and then switched again, cycling through the cameras on the grid.

"This could take a while," Kitty said, as Rogue leaned closer to peer at the images. "They've got over five hundred of these things."

And she was right – it took a while, and a lot of boring images until they hit upon one of the cameras looking into a large hangar bay, where the damaged S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. rested standing up, several technicians and mechanics swarming over it, hanging from a nearby scaffolding as they attempted to repair it.

The next several cameras showed different angles of the hangar, displaying only that one S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. inside, although the bay was big enough for several more.

Fury waited until it cycled through another hangar, this one empty, before he spoke up. "Good news is it looks like they did split these things up and you won't have to deal with them. Bad news is now we have no idea where the other twenty are."

Domino nodded. "This will make this one easier, but knowing those things are still out there somewhere…. We'll have to get IntelSec out looking for disappearance patterns, see if they'll give themselves away…" She stopped as the screen switched to a small holding cell.

"There!" Rogue said, her hand grasping Kitty's shoulder tightly until her friend tapped in a command to freeze the image. She released her grip and moved it to the back of the chair so she didn't hurt Kitty.

"Remy," Rogue whispered, staring at the screen.

The screen showed Remy, handcuffed with his arms above his head, leaving him in what looked like a very uncomfortable half-standing half-hanging position. His trenchcoat lay on the floor in the corner, and they'd removed his shirt at some point, leaving him completely bare-chested.

Even in the black-and-white image she could see ugly bruises covering his skin, darkest especially around his stomach and ribs, and his face showed clear signs of beating as well – one eye nearly swollen shut – and what looked like blood in a long line down one of his arms.

The door to the cell suddenly opened, and a tall, smarmy-looking man strode in, carrying a long, rodlike object. Rogue recognized him instantly. "Maldrone," she spat.

Fury nodded. "Make sure we're recording this in case we don't snatch up Maldrone when we hit them," he said to Courtney, who nodded and scrambled to begin the recording.

Maldrone circled Remy, speaking to him, but Remy simply stared into a corner of the room, ignoring him, until the man reached a full circle, stopped in front of him and said something.

Remy slowly looked over, smirking through his cut lips, and said something back that clearly angered Creed's assistant.

Rogue gasped when he extended the tip of the rod he was holding, up to Remy's neck, and it sparked against his skin. Remy's entire body jerked, curling up on itself, leaving him hanging for several seconds solely by his wrists as he clearly struggled to breathe.

"Cattle prod," Fury muttered, as Remy lowered his legs again, seeming to recover somewhat from the sharp jolt.

They watched as Remy grinned again, and said something else that angered Maldrone more, bringing on another shock, this time to his bare stomach, and then another before he recovered, to his neck again.

"Gawd, Remy," Rogue whispered, horrified, into the hands that had come up to cover her mouth, oblivious to the tears streaming down her cheeks and over her gloved fingers. She jerked slightly each time she saw the prod touch his skin.

"Do we have audio?" Fury demanded, but Courtney shook her head.

"Only video," she said, her face pale, clearly shaken by what was unfolding on the screen in front of them.

* * *

Maldrone steeled himself before he entered Remy's cell. It had been over half a day since he'd visited it, and he'd become disturbed by rumors he heard flitting through the Purifier populace. The guards, it seemed, had become afraid of the mutant. He'd read through medical reports on eight different guards, who had been injured during their interrogation and beating of Remy.

The injuries ranged from broken bones, to one person who'd been rushed to the hospital with damaged testicles – after that they'd very firmly restrained Remy's feet, tying them together, and leading the rope behind him to anchor it on the wall, preventing him from kicking.

The latest had been a man that received an elbow to the eye when he got too close. And now the guards were drawing straws to see who had to get the duty of beating the wild mutant.

Maldrone shook his head. "We'll fix that," he muttered, running his hands along the long cattle prod he held as the guard in front of him opened the door and let him enter.

He eyed the prisoner who was, once again, staring at the same corner of the wall, muttering under his breath the moment Maldrone stepped in. He slowly started to circle the mutant, eyeing heavy layering of bruising from his guards' handiwork.

"You've been hurting my guards, LeBeau," he began, as he moved behind him. "Not a very smart move. Things will only get worse the more angry you make them."

He got no response, so he moved over to the front of Remy, and stared at him hard. "We caught your little girlfriend. Pretty little thing, for a mutant, if you like that sort of look, the stripe in the hair, long sleeves and gloves and all that. My guards are entertaining themselves with her now. I've been thinking of making her scream just for you – pipe in the sounds from her cell into yours so you can listen to them."

Maldrone was stunned when Remy smirked slightly, and turned his head until his gaze met Maldrone's, one eye purple, the lid nearly swollen closed, and then he heard him chuckle.

"Is dat so?" Remy asked. "An' what's her name? My girlfriend." He said when Maldrone stared blankly at him.

"I…"

"You're such a fuckin' bad liar, Maldrone. I mean, c'mon, I ain' dat stupid. If you had any smarts at all you'd have at least made sure you knew somethin' before you claimed dat."

Maldrone's anger flared, and he gripped the prod tightly, and brought it up to the mutant's neck, flicking it on, and it sparked to life.

He smiled as Remy's entire body spasmed at the high-voltage shock, and a strangled cry escaped the mutant as he tried to jerk himself away from the prod.

Maldrone gave the mutant a few moments to recover, and was surprised to see the same smirk slowly appear on Remy's face after he'd finished coughing to get air back into his lungs.

"Cattle prod, eh?" Remy said with a chuckle. "Pretty kinky dere, Ronny – now we all know how you an' your wife entertain y'selves in de bedroom, I guess."

Maldrone's face twisted with anger at the words - and the cocky expression on his prisoner's face - and jabbed the prod forward into his stomach, and then moments later into his neck once again, leaving Remy a twitching mess, groaning in pain.

Maldrone slowed down, getting a grip once again, and much more methodically applied shock after shock, the prod leaving burn marks as it touched the same spot of skin over and over, until the mutant was coughing and sobbing in pain.

"Alright you little freak. Are you ready for me to stop? Ready to tell me what I want to know? Who do you work for?"

To his surprise, Remy nodded weakly, and spoke, his voice hoarse. "Yeah, I'll tell you. Jus'… promise to leave her out of it."

Maldrone's eyes lit up with pleasure. "Alright, your little girlfriend won't be harmed. Now tell me who you work for. Where is this little team of yours based?"

Remy coughed, and wheezed in a breath of air. "We… We're from…" He said quietly, his voice lowering at the end of the sentence into a mumble.

"Where? Speak up," Maldrone said, his body following its automatic reaction to the whisper by leaning in closer to Remy's face.

He realized his mistake a split-second too late, as Remy's head snapped forward, his forehead slamming into Maldrone's face. A crack sounded through the room as blinding pain shot out from Maldrone's nose, his vision nearly graying out.

Maldrone staggered back, dropping the prod, and both of his hands reached up to stem the spurting flow of blood from his nose. "'Ittle fucker, you bwoke my nobse," he managed to say. "Guards!" He shouted through his hands.

"Get me to a medic, now! Beat the hell outta this bastawd," he said as they barged into the room

'_Goddamn_,' he thought as the guard guided him to the door and down the hall. '_He's a nutjob! He just takes everything and comes out on top,_' he thought, the faint sound of Remy chuckling behind him sending chills down his spine.

* * *

Rogue straightened up shakily, faintly aware that the back of Kitty's chair had a hand-sized piece missing, crumbled to dust in her grip. She was glad to see Remy still had some fighting spirit left, with the headbutt to Maldrone, but the entire scene had almost been too much for her.

"Rogue," Logan said softly, and put a hand on her shoulder.

"We're goin' in. Now." She said, flatly, not looking at him.

"We still need to plan – " Fury protested.

"Then plan. Ah'll go in on mah own if Ah have to. Ah'm not lettin' them put one more hand on him." She said, her voice low, dangerous, shaking.

"I understand you're upset, but please, think this through. At least give us a half-hour. We'll even plan it as we fly to the site. If we just speed in, someone's going to get hurt. Remy's doing as good as we could have hoped, and Maldrone's going to be getting fixed up at least that long." Nick said.

Rogue closed her eyes, and let out a frustrated breath, her hands clenching into tight fists at her sides. "Alright. Half an hour. Ah'll be in the jet," she said in a short tone, and strode away, shrugging off Logan's hand, and ignoring her teammates expressions.

Nick smile weakly to Domino as Rogue left the operations room. "Guess we go with the straightforward plans. I wouldn't want to be them when she gets down there."

He looked back to the two computers. "Kitty, can you call up those schematics again, please?"

* * *

Rogue made it to the jet before breaking down. She pitched to her knees on the hard metal floor of the jet, and let out a choked sob, her shoulders shaking.

"Rogue?" Came Jean's concerned voice from the front of the plane – Rogue had forgotten she'd flown them, and remained behind – by orders of Xavier from what she'd told them.

Rogue looked up, her bangs hanging down in front of her face, obscuring her vision of Jean, who stood up and hurried over to the back of the plane. "Rogue, what's wrong?" Jean asked. She placed a hand to her forehead. "You're radiating so many emotions."

"So-sorry," Rogue managed, sniffing, and reaching up to swipe the hair from her face and drag her sleeve along the tears on her cheeks. "They're….. we found Remy – they're torturin' him. They've been torturin' him since they got him," she said, her voice breaking.

Jean's face softened, and she knelt next to the younger woman, placing an arm around her shoulder. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "When are we going?"

"Half-an-hour," Rogue said irritable. "Ah…. Wanted t'go now, but they wanna plan. Gawd Jean, he looked so bad."

Jean nodded, and let her lean against her, as she stroked her back. "He'll be fine. Ororo says he's really tough. We'll have him back in no time." She sighed. "I just wish I could help more."

Rogue nodded, and pulled back slightly. "Ah know. But you're pilotin'. Coudn' get anywhere without someone t'do that."

Rogue sniffed again, and wiped away several more tears. "Sorry Ah broke down like that. It was just…. that was really hard ta watch…."

Jean looked at her with understanding. "I know. I can feel it coming off of you."

She stood up, and offered Rogue her hand. "C'mon, let's clean you up a little – you don't want to rescue Remy with runny makeup on your cheeks, do you?"

Rogue closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and manage a slight smile. "You're right, he'd probably get a smile outta that though," she said, allowing Jean to pull her toward the back of the jet – their larger jet – to the medical station, and pull out a mirror and several wet wipes from one of the drawers and hand them to her.

* * *

Stephen Lang trudged back from the hangar, having just checked on the damaged S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L., and the progress of the repairs. Things were slow, and there would be little chance that it would be functional for several days.

Maldrone had sent off his remaining S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. unit after he arrived for the interrogation of the mutant they had captured, sending it to Montana with the others. Now he was dealing with the unruly mutant while Lang was left to make up for the losses his creations had incurred.

Lang shook his head, and the next moment he found himself flat on his stomach, tasting blood on his lips, and a ringing in his ears after the wall of the hangar behind him blossomed up in a large explosion.

He scrambled to his feet, and looked at the hangar, the entire east wall now gone, and he dove to the ground next to a fallen crate. He watched a team of men enter the hangar, carrying weapons, and he could tell instantly they were spec-ops of some sort, pure professionals as the swept the room, taking out any of the men that remained standing after the blast. He knew he'd been found – the military had somehow figured out where he'd taken the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s.

Behind them he saw three others enter, not wearing the military uniforms, but rather, slick black form-fitting suits. One was an African-American woman, her hair an unnatural white and streaming around her face as she walked.

The man next to her made him realize they were a small group of mutants – he was completely blue, a long spade-ended tail swinging behind him. Lang went stock-still when he realized it was the mutant he'd had the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. pick up – the one it had dropped along the way.

'_My God, we attacked a government mutant team. Damn, we're dead._' He thought to himself.

The third person moved forward – a shorthaired woman with pale skin and a pure-black patch of skin around one eye. She raised a long rifle – a Barrett, he noted absently – in one hand, barely aimed, and fired off three deafening shots.

He watched helplessly as each .50 caliber bullet punched perfectly through the un-damaged photoreceptor of the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. standing across the hangar, and sparked around inside its skull. He nearly cried out at the act, which all but destroyed most of the vital systems of the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L., but managed to keep silent, and he slowly began to crawl away, back toward the main section of the base.

He made it around a corner, and scrambled to his feet once more, dashing into one of the rooms as a group of armed Purifier men marched past toward the hangar. He closed the door, and heard the inevitable firing of weapons, the sound of the Purifier's guns fading with each methodical crack of the mutant woman's weapon.

He scurried into the corner, and yanked at a small maintenance panel – the entire building was filled with maintenance tunnels that ran along the power and water conduits.

Lang cut his shaking hands on the sharp metal in numerous places, but he managed to force it open and squeeze into the space. He squinted in the dim light – now all he needed to do was find his way to one of the rooms farthest from the attack, and make a run for it, and he had a chance, he thought to himself as he began the long crawl along the dirty concrete floor of the tunnel.

* * *

Jamie patted his body to make sure all his parts were there the moment Kitty let go of him, and finished phasing herself and Piotr through the ceiling of the computer room.

He looked up to find himself surrounded by several dozen staring, surprised technicians who watched as the three of them appeared through the ceiling.

"Hey guys, we're just here to steal all your stuff, nothing to worry about," Jamie said cheerfully, and snapped his fingers several times. Half a dozen dupes appeared, and each of them did the same until they easily outnumbered the shocked people.

"Tie 'em up, boys." He said, and his duplicates grabbed the arms of each of the people and began to cuff them, and direct them out of the room toward the now-secure hangar bay.

He turned back to look at Kitty. "Oh yeah – please don't do that again. That felt very unsettling. And creepy. No more walking through walls for me. I'll jump in through the window if need be."

Kitty rolled her eyes. "Big baby. Pete doesn't mind, do you, Pete?"

Piotr smiled, and shook his head, his eyes scanning the room. "No, I don't mind the feeling at all."

"Well, 'Pete' happens to be about the size of a grizzly bear, so I don't think much would be bothering him, anyway. Me, on the other hand," Jamie said.

"Ugh, let's just find the main terminal and get what we can off it, instead of complaining." Kitty said, throwing up her hands, and stalking toward one of the arrays of computers.

She flicked through the files as fast as she could, and then moved to the next one to do the same, and Piotr and Jamie and several of his dupes followed suit.

They'd searched through more than half of them, when suddenly a loud siren sounded through the room, and several rotating lights on the ceiling began flashing red.

"Warning, self-destruct sequence initiated. Two minutes until detonation. All personnel evacuate." A calm female voice came over the speakers in the room.

"Don't look at me," Kitty said, her eyes wide as she looked up to Piotr and Jamie. "Someone must have triggered it. We gotta grab what we can and get the heck outta here."

* * *

Maldrone stood in front of Remy, his fists clenched, the front of his face heavily bandaged with a small splint running along the side of his nose to keep the many fractured pieces of the bone in place. He'd made the medic give him a quick fix, because he wasn't going to let the mutant sit and enjoy his reprieve.

"You're lookin' nice, Ronny," Remy said, his voice still raw, hoarse. "Startin' a new fashion look? Somehow I don' think it'll catch on too quick."

"Shut up," Maldrone barked, sounding now as if he had a cold that was blocking up his nose. "You're going to fucking tell me if I have to rip your intestines out and feed them to you."

"Dat sounds fun," Remy said. "We gonna play wit' your dolls, too?"

Maldrone let out a frustrated scream, and jabbed his recovered cattle prod directly against Remy's sternum, holding it there as the mutant shook from the applied voltage.

He pulled it back, and slammed the end of it into Remy's head like a baton. "You really aren't going to tell me, are you? You're really going to let me torture you like this?" Maldrone asked disbelief in his voice.

Remy coughed, and clenched his teeth until his body came back under his control. "Dat's really what I'm goin' to do. I'm really never goin' to tell you anythin', Ronny." He managed.

Maldrone closed his eyes, and gestured to the guard at the door. "Go get the keys for the cuffs, and get the tub ready. We'll see how he feels about drowning."

The guard was gone only a few moments when the entire building rumbled and shook, an explosion echoing down the halls. Maldrone steadied himself against the wall. "What the hell?"

Remy chuckled. "Dat means you're out of time. My friends are here, an' I'm sure dey ain' too happy. Maybe you better go take care of dat?"

Maldrone growled and spun around. He was nearly to the door of the cell when the ceiling above him cracked, and then exploded downward on top of him in chunks of crumbling plaster.

Maldrone shoved a particularly large piece of the fallen ceiling off of his leg. As the dust cleared, he froze when he saw the girl who'd fought the Prime S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. blow-for-blow, standing in front of him, staring coldly at him.

She moved forward, almost faster than humanly possible, and the next moment her hand was around his neck, pinning him to the wall. "Ah should kill you, right here, right now, for what you've done," she said, her low voice, the sound of it along with her words stabbing fear into his brain.

"Ah could do it yah know. One tiny squeeze, an' your little bones go snap."

His eyes widened in panic as her grip tightened, cutting off his air supply.

She shook her head. "But Ah won'. That's what makes us differen' from you an' your followers." She said, and dropped him to the floor, letting him flop around as he gasped for breath.

She brushed her hands on her pants and turned toward Remy, her heart sinking at the sight of him – he looked even worse than he'd looked over the camera. She rushed over to his side, and undid the rope around his legs, before reaching up to use her strength to snap the central-chain of his handcuffs.

The loss of support caused him to fall forward, heavily against her, and she wrapped her arms around his chest to steady him, trying to hold him as delicately as possible, so she wouldn't be hurting him further.

He smiled weakly, his face close to hers. "Too you long enough _Chére_. But I knew y'were comin'."

"Remy," she said in a choked whisper, shifting him so he could support himself against her better.

"Jus' waitin' t'get me half-naked like dis, eh?" He asked, his balance wavering, trying to waggle his eyebrows.

There was a sharp growl behind them as Logan leapt through the ceiling, his boot slamming down on the hand Maldrone had been trying to use to steady a small pistol, aimed at the two of them.

Rogue winced at the sound of the cracking bones, and nodded her thanks to Logan.

"Always check 'im for weapons before y'do the rescuin'." Logan said, grabbing Maldrone and hefting him by the collar of his shirt.

"An' what're you doin' with this hand?" Logan muttered, yanking Maldrone's other hand out of his pocket – too late.

Maldrone hit the last button of the combination on a small device in his hand, and a siren rang out around the complex, red lights flashing in the hallway as a voice announced that a self-destruct sequence had been initiated.

Maldrone laughed hysterically as Logan tore the thing from his hand. "You're too late, you won't get what you came for now. All the information you want will go up in a fireball with us."

"I don't give a shit about information, bub – we got what we came for," Logan said, nodding toward Rogue and Remy. "You're just a nice little bonus. We'll see how big a man you are when S.H.I.E.L.D. gives you a little taste of your own medicine. Your boss is next."

Maldrone's mouth clamped shut when he finally got his answer of who Remy was working for. The government – S.H.I.E.L.D. to be precise. He trembled slightly before Logan snapped a fist to his head, the blow knocking him out.

"I'll get him outta here, we gotta move," Logan said, and Rogue nodded.

"We're fine, go ahead."

As Logan left the room, slinging Maldrone in a fireman's carry, Remy smiled, and tottered slightly next to Rogue.

Her eyes darkened, and a hint of blue flashed across them when she saw the power-nullifying collar around his neck. She reached up, and snapped the controls off, disabling it, and then bent the frame open to the side, freeing it from his neck.

"Mmm, _Chére_, could y'get me my trenchcoat? I spent a lot of money on dat, an' I ain' lettin' dem incinerate it here."

Rogue nodded, and turned, leaning him up with his back against the wall. She let go of him and moved across the room to grab the trenchcoat, which was in relatively good shape, all things considered.

"Alright, Sugah, let's get yah out of here," she said, flinging the coat over her shoulder.

Remy nodded, and stepped forward, nearly losing his balance, and she grabbed him once again. "Sugah, yah can barely stand. C'mere."

She maneuvered him, and then picked him up in her arms – somewhat awkward due to him being larger than her, but rather easy overall, given her strength. She carried him over to the hole she'd created, and they both looked up at the light streaming in from five floors above them where she'd torn through the roof.

"Maybe I ain' thinkin' straight, but I thought it was de dashing prince was s'pposed to carry de damsel. Not de other way around," Remy said.

Rogue chuckled slightly. "Ah think we'll make an exception this time. Yah couldn' even carry a feather in this shape."

Remy sighed. "Alrigh', jus' don' tell no one 'bout dis, _hein_? Ain' good for m'image."

Rogue shook her head. "Yah are impossible, even when you're a second away from passin' out." She said, and began to ascend through the ceiling, up to the next floor, and continued upward.

"Dat's my job," Remy said, trying to grin.

They reached the fourth floor without incident, when suddenly a shot rang out as the cleared the ceiling, and Rogue spun to see a nervous Purifier training his weapon on the two of them.

"Screw dis," Remy said, and a glowing card – the last one he'd kept in the pocket of his trenchcoat, an Ace of Spades, flew into the face of the Purifier guard, and exploded brilliantly, knocking him backward.

"Nice move," Rogue said. "Didn' even realize yah pulled that out until it exploded."

"Dat's what she said," Remy said, chuckling sleepily, leaning forward with his head against her shoulder.

Rogue blushed. "One more dirty joke an' Ah'm droppin' you," she said, her voice remaining affectionate as she continued upward until they reached the roof, where the X-Jet sat.

"C'mon Rogue, you're the last one," Dani called, waving at her from the ramp. "We have half a minute max!"

Rogue ran forward, wincing in sympathy as Remy groaned at the rough treatment, and she saw the X-Force helicopter lift off in the distance.

She jogged up the ramp, and Jean began to take off before she'd even reached the top. "Hang on," she yelled as the ramp began to rise behind Rogue.

The engines lit, and the Jet lifted off, leaping forward as the building underneath its landing pads began to disintegrate.

Rogue found herself thrown backward into the seat at the medical station, and pressed down into it at the acceleration.

"Yah alright?" She whispered to Remy, helping him sit on the seat next to her.

He nodded, and fell forward and to the side, ending up with his head in her lap. "Dat's gonna hurt in de mornin' though." He muttered.

He smiled dreamily up at Rogue, who was beginning to look blurry to him. "Thanks for savin' me, _Chére_. I got…. I got a secret t'tell you," he said, his eyes slipping shut.

"What is it?" Rogue asked, leaning down, her face close to his, seeing him begin to slip out of consciousness.

"_Je t'aime, Chére." _He said, a slight smile on his lips as he passed out.

Rogue felt tears sting at her eyes, and her heart swell, and she reached up with a shaking hand to touch his cheek. She leaned forward and gently kissed his lips. "Ah love yah too," she whispered, staring at his sleeping form, oblivious to her teammates, to the plane, to anything but him.

* * *

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**A/N:** _Aww….._

_Hope you liked this chapter. I threw in Amanda last night while watching an X-men Evolution episode. I saw their version of her, and decided to make my own, and give poor Kurt a bit of fun - hope you like her: bit of a different take on her. Originally it was just going to be a random farmer that found him, so I'm happy I happened upon that episode._

_So, Remy's back, after I tortured him even more, poor thing. And now he just has to stay awake for once when Rogue tells him she loves him. :D_

_Anyway, one chapter left - the epilogue - with the aftermath of everything, and a few hints on where things are going for the sequel. _

_See you then, and thanks for reading!_

_P.S. Je t'aime is French for "I Love you" – just in case one of you out there somehow didn't cat_ch that. :P


	35. Chapter 35: Recovery: Epilogue

_**Disclaimer: X-men is owned by Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. I do not own X-men, nor am I making a profit from this work of fan-fiction. So don't sue me! Not that you'd get a whole lot from me anyway ;)**_

_A/N:Hey guys, back with the epilogue. (be on the lookout for the sequel, I talk a bit more at the end about it). Basically wrapping up of the current storylines, and some foreshadowing (direct and indirect) of some things that will be in the sequel. And finally some great ROMY- :D. Please, read and review!_

* * *

**Chapter 35: Recovery - Epilogue**

* * *

Annie frowned to herself as she pulled away the bandages on Jubilee's side. She'd given her patient a sedative that had just about knocked her out for the night, to help her handle the pain, so Jubilee was not awake to see what she saw.

Underneath the bandages, rather than an ugly, stitched-up wound, she found it closing, the skin surrounding it clear and healthy-looking, as if she'd been healing for weeks.

Annie slid on a pair of latex gloves, probed the wound with her fingers, and then stood up straight, hurrying over to her file drawer to pull out Jubilee's medical file. She sat down in her wheeled chair and spent the next several minutes scouring it for any sign of a secondary healing ability displayed by Jubilee, but found nothing. In fact, the year before Annie had started, Jubilee had been in a skateboarding accident and split her scalp, and it had taken months to fully heal, just as it should.

Therefore, unless the ability had suddenly manifested in the last year, there was only one factor that could have caused it: the transfusion. She made a mental note to hunt down Warren and get a sample of his blood to look at. He was a universal donor, and if it could do this…..

'_And the research opportunities,_' she thought. She wasn't exactly a researcher, but she knew this would be something that would intrigue Hank as much as the mutant genome did. First things first, talk to Warren – she decided.

She grabbed her notebook from her desk, and started jotting down details she noticed – the scratch on Jubilee's back that had come from falling down after being shot was now a barely-visible pink line. The bullet hole had closed, the skin already healing – it would leave a scar, but there was little chance of infection so long as she kept it clean. At the rate it was healing she suspected her young patient would be ready to leave by the next morning, and fully healed by the end of the next week.

She shook herself from her thoughts on Jubilee when she heard the low whirr of the Medlab doors sliding open. "She's resting, and not in shape for visitors until the morning," Annie said, as she finished jotting down her last few words.

"Annie," the voice of Rogue startled her from looking at her notebook.

Annie's head snapped up, and she saw Rogue carrying Remy into the Medlab, she looked haggard, her eyes tear-streaked, her uniform, face, and hair were caked in dust that looked like it came from drywall, the dust smudged along her tear tracks.

When she caught sight of Remy, she gasped. "Alright, bring him over here," Annie said, scrambling to her feet, tossing the notebook to her side as she moved to clear off the bed next to Jubilee's.

Rogue moved further into the room and placed him on the bed. "They…. tortured him pretty bad…" Rogue said, trailing off as she looked sadly down at him.

Annie nodded, her eyes running professionally across his body, noting the bruises and where they were concentrated – those were the first places to check for internal bleeding and broken bones.

Annie moved up to the bedside, and placed her hands on his abdomen where the worst of the bruising – purple and a sickly green in some places – was, and slowly, deliberately pressed down as she moved her hands across his skin.

She finally looked up, after checking all along his abdomen, and feeling around his scalp and face. "Okay, I don't think there's any internal bleeding – at least nothing obvious like rigid and cold skin. I want to be sure, so we're going to do a quick CT."

She looked carefully at Rogue. "Are you alright? You with me for this, Rogue? Because I need my helper." She said, touching Rogue's shoulder.

Rogue's eyes were wet, but no tears fell as she looked at Annie. "Yeah, Ah'm alright. Ah'm fine for helpin' yah."

"Alright," Annie said, bustling over to the diagnostics machine in the corner of the room and turning it on. "Take off his pants."

Rogue stared at her for a moment, a blush rising in her cheeks. "Wh-what?"

Annie looked over her shoulder and nearly laughed at the expression on the younger woman's face. "The metal buttons and rivets and the zipper will interfere with the image, so either you or me have to take his pants off. And for some reason I think he'd prefer it to be you," she said with a slight grin.

"Alright," Rogue said, her cheeks red. "But if yah tell him you're in trouble. He'd be teasin' me for _weeks_."

"I'm sure he would," Annie said, chuckling softly as she touched the controls of the diagnostic machine, moving through a series of menus on the display to find the one she needed to work the CT part of it.

After Rogue had removed his pants, they wheeled the bed over to the machine, and lifted him onto the platform of the machine. Annie made sure he was lying out on in the best position for the machine to get a good reading, and then started the scan. The platform moved slowly through the ring of the device, which sent out its pulses and returned a slowly developing image on the screen.

She focused on his head and then his abdomen, and carefully examined each image that was returned. Annie finally shut the machine down as the platform returned to its initial position, and then she helped Rogue place Remy back on his bed, draping a blanket across his lower half.

"No bleeding. He's lucky," Annie said as they wheeled the bed back to where it had been.

"Not enough," Rogue murmured softly, gently touching his bruised cheek with her gloved hand.

Annie nodded to his hand. "Can you splint that finger for me?" she said, referring to the pinkie finger Maldrone had broken.

"Yeah," Rogue said, moving over to one of the cabinets to grab the things she would need for that.

Annie smiled slightly as she watched the younger woman move around the room – she definitely was nursing material, if not doctor material, and she hoped she would stay with that as her goal.

Annie grabbed her stethoscope and put the ends in her ears, and the bell on Remy's chest, moving it up and down the length of his chest to listen to his breathing and his heartbeat. She frowned and shook her head, looking up at Rogue who has begun to set Remy's bone against a long, thick cardboard stabilizer used for broken and fractured fingers.

"I'm a little worried about his heart. Overall it sounds strong but I'm detecting a bit of a flutter – a little irregularity."

Rogue's face darkened. "Bastards were torturin' him with a cattle prod…"

Annie's eyes widened. "That…. that would probably do it," she said, feeling slightly sick to her stomach at the idea of doing that to another human being.

"Slight damage to the muscle from electric shocks passing right across the heart… I'll keep an eye on it the next few days but I think with his healing abilities, this will disappear." Annie finally said, placing the stethoscope on a nearby table. "Is that what made these burn marks?" she asked softly, running her finger over one of the many two-pronged marks blackened into his skin all around his body.

Rogue nodded sadly, and Annie turned her attention to Remy's left hand, and grimaced at the sight of the stab wound adorning it.

She slowly cleaned it, making sure there were no foreign objects or dirt in the skin, and then began to slowly stitch it up. "Missed the main veins," she said when Rogue looked over to her with interest, having just finished taping up the end of the gauze holding the stabilizers in place on his finger. "Stabbed completely through, though. This one's going to take quite a while to heal, even with Remy being Remy."

Rogue nodded, and circled around the bed, leaning against the side as she watched Annie stitch together the palm side of the wound.

The doors whirred open again, and Rogue looked up to see Lorna peek her head around the corner. "Rogue? I – you found him," she said, sounding relieved, and then disappeared for a moment before walking back to the doorway, holding Sarah's hand.

"Remy!" Sarah exclaimed, pulling her hand from Lorna's, and rushing toward the bed.

Rogue grabbed her, stopping her before the bed. "Just a minute sweetie. Annie's gotta finish. 'Sides, Remy's sleepin' now."

Sarah nodded, and grabbed Rogue's hand, gripping it tightly as she got a better look at Remy. "Is he alright?" She asked in a choked whisper.

Annie smiled slightly and looked over her shoulder after she finished her stitches. "He'll be alright. Just a little banged up."

Sarah nodded, tears running down her cheeks.

"Ah didn't think yah'd be up this late, sweetie. It's after three in th'mornin'." Rogue said, giving her hand a brief squeeze.

"Couldn't sleep," Sarah said.

"I kept her company up in the living room – we played a few video games and watched some TV together." Lorna said as she moved around the bed next to them.

"Thanks, Ah appreciate it," Rogue said, smiling at her green-haired friend.

Lorna shook her head. "No problem. Neither of us could sleep, thinking about…. how you guys were doing – how Remy was doing. I… had an idea of what he'd be dealing with, but," she shook her head again, "this's worse than what they used to do to us in the cells."

Rogue's expression softened, remembering Lorna had once been in the 'loving' hands of the Purifiers, and she placed a hand on her friend's shoulder. "He's tough. Still jokin' an' flirtin' with me until he passed out on the plane." She said, amusement flitting over her features.

"You catch the guys that did this?" Lorna asked.

Rogue bit her lip. "Most of them are out in the streets – S.H.I.E.L.D. is huntin' them down. They set their base to blow. Not sure how much we got information-wise because of that. But Ah got the bastard that was torturin' him." She looked down at Sarah. "It was the man that planned th'tunnel attack."

Sarah paled slightly. "R-really?"

Rogue nodded, and pulled her closer, putting an arm around her shoulder. "Yeah. Logan took him, an' he's gonna be in prison a long, long time. He won' be hurtin' anyone else."

"Good," Sarah said, her voice shaking slightly.

Annie grabbed her scissors and snipped the end of the suture thread as she finished the stitch to the back of Remy's hand, wrapped it quickly in a loose covering of gauze, and then looked back up at Sarah, Rogue, and Lorna.

"Alright, that's all we can do for him now until he wakes up. I'll get some medicine in him for the pain – he probably won't be awake until tomorrow."

Rogue nodded, and squeezed Sarah's shoulder. "Alright sweetie, let's get you to bed. We'll come down here in the mornin' when he's awake, alright? He'll probably look better too, once he gets a rest an' some time t'heal."

Sarah looked sadly toward Remy, but finally nodded, and let Rogue turn her away, toward the door to the Medlab.

"Thanks for your help, Rogue," Annie called as she guided Sarah out the door.

Lorna, who'd remained behind, turned and raised an eyebrow to Annie. "What about Jubilee? She doing alright?"

Annie nodded. "Remarkably well, actually. I gave her something to knock her out for the night without pain, so she'll wake up in the morning as well. It's… your friend, Warren, apparently has some amazing blood."

Lorna looked at her curiously. "Why?"

"Well, right now her wound looks like it's been healing for weeks. She'll be back to normal very quickly. I think Warren has, as part of his mutation, blood that has healing properties. If you see him tomorrow, let him know I want to talk with him, alright?"

"Sure," Lorna said, nodding. "I think I'm going to try to get some sleep now without being worried about everyone. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Annie called, as she turned to one of her locked cabinets to remove the pain-killer for Remy, and an IV to let it drip into him at a safe rate.

She sighed with relief once she finished, making sure it was dripping correctly, and then moved back to Remy to dress the various cattle-prod burns across his body. She would, hopefully, not have any more patients now, and her two patients she did have either healed quickly or were doing so due to outside factors.

* * *

Logan tossed the struggling man to the floor of one of the many holding cells of the Helicarrier, and gave him a look of disgust before leaving the room. The hand-cuffed man struggled to sit up to face the two other occupants of the room – a blonde woman he didn't recognize, and an African-American man with an eyepatch that he recognized all too easily.

"You can leave, Sharon, Ronald will behave for me, won't you Ronald? And if he doesn't he gets keel-hulled under the Helicarrier, you got that Ronald?" Nicholas Fury said.

Sharon exchanged an amused glance with her commanding officer, and then nodded her head and left the room, closing the door securely behind her.

"Well now," Fury said, pulling a case out of his pocket, and opening it up to reveal a long, professionally rolled cigar, which he cut and lit before continuing, puffing on it several times to keep get the fire from the match to take on the end. "Thought she would never leave – she doesn't like me smoking these things around her."

Fury sighed and leaned back, against the wall of the room. "So how are you, Ronald? You do recognize me don't you? I believe we met at that White House gala the President threw last year."

"I know who you are," Maldrone spat.

"Good. I hoped you would. So, what are we going to do with you, Ronald? You do know you're going away for a very long time. Quite possibly to the same prison we put all the mutants from Alcatraz in. I'm sure they'll be happy to see you there."

Maldrone paled at that, but said nothing, knowing he was in a lot of trouble.

"You really should have thought things through, my friend. I mean, coming out to do an interrogation yourself? Pretty ballsy."

"But now, it's not just you that's going to pay, it's your boss," Nick continueds.

Maldrone's head snapped up. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

Fury shrugged, taking another puff of the cigar into his mouth before blowing it out. "Oh don't worry. At the moment we don't have enough to arrest him for anything. But do you really think this is going to go over well?"

"I mean, big-time candidate for President, hiring you as his campaign manager? It's not going to sound too pretty when we leak this to the press tomorrow. I can see the headlines now: Graydon Creed hires deranged maniac. You think people are just going to shrug when they hear Creed's closest confidante was arrested for assaulting, kidnapping, and torturing a _federal agent_?"

Maldrone ground his teeth, seething because he knew Fury was right.

Fury continued. "Not to mention when they hear that the arrest took place at the home-base of a well-known terrorist organization like the Purifiers. You guys have been skirting around that issue, all the anti-mutant groups, but he's not going to be able to side-step much longer when they hear you were one of the leaders of an anti-mutant terrorist group. I'm guessing at least a ten point drop by the end of tomorrow. And boy are they going to drag it on in the press, and when we bring you into court for your trial? Months. Your little friend is going to be scrambling to recover."

"Bastard," Maldrone hissed.

"No, Mister Maldrone, the only bastard here is you. You tortured one of _my_ agents. If I didn't want to use you and make a public example out of you, I'd have tossed you off the deck of the Helicarrier myself." Fury said angrily, his cigar held down at waist-level, no longer part of his attention.

"I hope you enjoy knowing that this? This is only the beginning. We're going to dismantle your little terrorist groups one by one, and slowly but surely get the evidence we need to put Creed behind bars right with you."

Fury pushed off from the wall, and walked toward the door. He opened it, and began to walk out, pausing only momentarily to say one final thing. "Oh, and Maldrone? I wasn't kidding – even if it takes getting the President to talk to the judge, I'll make sure you're rooming with Magneto and his little army when you get sent off to jail."

Maldrone jerked at the sound of the door slamming shut – he knew that it was, essentially, the door slamming on his future. He'd made a mistake, a big one, gotten cocky from his previous personal involvements and not getting caught – like the tunnels. And he could never have expected the thief he'd tried to have killed over two months ago would somehow have joined up with the government and been a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent no less.

Maldrone sank back and curled into a ball on the floor – he knew there was no way out of this one – Fury wouldn't stop until he was in prison, and if he by some miracle managed to escape such a sentence, he wouldn't put it past the man to send in one of his teams to covertly execute him. His only hope was that Graydon would be able to recover and not be dragged down, and that he'd be able to keep things together without his help, and win the election.

That was his only glint of a future – Creed as President: in 8 years, at the end of his term, he could freely pardon him without worrying about the political consequences of doing so.

* * *

Remy felt the pounding of his head first, when he began to crawl back to consciousness. He groaned, and lifted a hand up to his forehead, only to find a layer of gauze touching his skin instead.

He opened his eyes to find himself staring at his bandaged left hand, and everything rush back to him in that moment – the torture, the stabbing of his hand, and also his rescue. The last thing he remembered was Rogue and him entering the X-Jet.

"Remy?" Rogue's voice came from his left, and he lowered his hand, blinking his eyes several times before he looked over to see her setting down a book she'd been reading in a chair at his side, and rushing over to him as he tried to sit up.

She helped him sit up slightly, placing a pillow behind his back to help prop him up. "How are yah feelin', Sugah?"

Remy glanced down at his bruised body, the bandages around his left hand and right pinkie, and sighed. "Better'n I thought I would. 'bout as good as I could expect given de last few days. Annie got me on de good stuff?"

Rogue nodded, and he saw the tears in her eyes. "Yeah, she said you got enough painkiller to knock out a horse."

"Mm. Well, it's workin' 'cept for dis headache. What time is it?"

"Ten in th'mornin'. Yah've been out of it for 'bout thirteen hours."

"Remy," Sarah's voice came from the other side of him, and he turned to find Sarah standing next to his bed, looking hesitantly, unsure, at him.

"Damn, dis must be de really good stuff Annie's got me on – I'm so out of it I didn' even hear you come in de room, _petite_."

When she just stood there, looking at him, he realized why she was hesitating. He smiled, and patted the bed. "C'mon an' give me a hug, _ma petite_. Y'won' hurt me."

Sarah scrambled up onto the side of the bed, throwing her arms around his neck, burying her face into his shoulder. He could feel the bony growths on her forehead against the skin of his neck, and then he felt her tears drip onto his bare shoulder.

"I w-was so worried, Remy," she cried.

He rubbed her back. "Shh….. I know, Sarah. I'm sorry. I missed you, _petite._"

He glanced up toward Rogue and extended his left arm, despite the awkward bandage on his hand, and she moved forward to hug both Sarah and him, and he hugged the two of them tightly, breathing out a soft prayer of thanks.

He let them remain there for what seemed pleasantly like hours, before he felt a wave of weariness wash back over him.

"Alrigh', my _femmes_, I think I'm gonna fall asleep real soon."

Rogue smiled, and pulled back slightly, helping place him back in his earlier position, which was much more comfortable for sleeping. "Yah need it – yah look like a raccoon right now."

Sarah let out a choked giggle, and pulled back, grinning at Remy through the tears on her cheeks. "She's right."

He gave them a mock frown, and closed his eyes. "Back to you two makin' fun of me I see. You are evil."

Sarah smiled and kissed his cheek. "We only do it 'cuz we love you."

"Mmhmm. I know. Love you too. Sleepin' now," he said, drifting back to sleep.

* * *

"So, how are you feeling now, Jubes?"

Jubilee shrugged at her green-haired friend who sat at the foot of her bed. "Alright. But I'm on some serious painkillers so it probably hurts like hell and I just don't know it," she said, grinning.

Lorna laughed. "Yeah, I know that from experience. Broke my arm a few years ago and the first few days I was fine until they took me off the heavier stuff – then it hurt pretty bad."

"Well, thank you for bringing me this," Jubilee said, raising the half-eaten sandwich in her hand in salute. "I was starving."

She took another bite, and then sipped at the water Annie had left by the bedside, and then looked over to where Remy was, sleeping on his own bed. Lorna had told Rogue, Sarah, and Ororo she'd watch him so they could go up to eat a late lunch.

"So, we got beat up pretty bad, eh?" Jubes asked, nodding to Remy.

Lorna nodded. "I heard Bobby got burned, then you got shot, and Kurt was getting checked out before too – something about a fall and a bruised shoulder. But Remy took the worst of it. This normal for you guys?"

Jubilee shrugged. "I guess. Every few months something big will happen, someone'll get hurt…. Or die…."

Lorna's eyes widened. "Really?"

Jubilee nodded. "Yeah, you know Jean? Red hair, pretty, probably in her thirties? We thought she was dead for a while, and then when she returned, the guy she was engaged to died – that was just a few weeks before you got here actually."

"Wow." Lorna said quietly.

Jubilee finished off her sandwich, stuffing the last few bites into her mouth, rendering herself unable to speak until she'd washed it down. "Anyway. Annie said I'm healing pretty fast. I hear I have your little boyfriend to thank for saving my life, and for the speedy recovery," she said, a teasing grin on her face.

Lorna blushed deeply. "Stop that, he's not my boyfriend…. Yet, anyway." She shot her friend a mock glare. "You had to go get shot and Remy had to go get himself kidnapped – I would have been on a date with Warren Friday night."

Jubilee's eyebrows rose, and she grinned. "Really? That's great. Did he ask you out?"

Lorna smiled sheepishly. "Actually, we sorta asked each other out together….. it was a little awkward, but it was kinda cute – neither of us were really sure how to ask the other."

Jubilee laughed at the expression on her face, and patted her friend's hand. "Well, make sure you get him to reschedule with you – you don't want to miss out on a _fine _guy like that."

Lorna nodded shyly. "I know. We've got the summer basically on our own – the timing couldn't be any better to try it out between us."

"Well, I'll make sure to give you my phone number before I head off to L.A. – I want to hear all the juicy details from you."

* * *

"Damnit!" Creed shouted, overturning the open suitcase on his bed as the door to the hotel room closed behind him. He was seething with anger at what had just happened.

His day had started perfectly normal, getting up and getting ready for his first press-op. The only odd thing he found was that he couldn't get a hold of Maldrone, but he had brushed his thoughts about that aside, and prepared for his ride over for the meeting, assuming Maldrone was busy speaking on his phone, or it had died and he didn't have his charger.

Creed had gotten into his car, his driver taking him the short distance to the place that had been set up for a small rally where he'd take questions from the reporters and people in the crowd.

When he got there, however, rather than wait back by the stage, the reporters had suddenly swarmed the car as he stepped out, like a school of hungry sharks smelling blood in the water.

He could still remember it vividly, the bombardment of questions and his quite visible shock at them.

_"Mr. Creed," the first voice shouted, and he couldn't tell who it was beyond the sea of cameras and microphones in front of him. "Mr. Creed, do you want to comment on the arrest of your Campaign Manager, Ronald Maldrone?"_

_Creed had stared blankly at the direction the question had come from, a slow, confused smile coming across his face. "What is this, some sort of joke?"_

_A closer reporter shook his head. "Mr. Creed, haven't you heard? We received information from a source inside the government – your campaign manager was arrested by federal agents last night."_

_Another reporter shoved a microphone towards his face. "Mr. Creed, they are telling us that he assaulted and led the torture of a federal agent, is this true?"_

_"I….. you must be joking, Ronald would-" Creed began._

_"What about the charges of domestic terrorism for his links to the anti-mutant terrorist group that calls themselves the Purifiers? Were you aware of his connection to this group?"_

_Creed felt his heart stop, remembering Maldrone telling him he was going to their Purifier base, something about a damaged S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L. and a captured mutant. Something had happened last night that landed him in trouble with the feds._

_"I – I don't know, I'm sorry, this is the first I've heard of it. You'll have to excuse me, we'll postpone this press conference until I have all the facts and investigate this. Thank you," he said, practically bolting backward to get inside the limo, ignoring the flashing lights and shouted questions._

_"Drive!" He snarled to the driver. "Back to the hotel," he said, pulling out his cell phone to call his wife._

He had called her, and got her to turn on the news, and watch for the story. It hadn't taken long: every news station was broadcasting it as breaking news – Ron had been arrested for terrorism and assault on a federal agent.

This was not going to blow over easily, if at all, and it really would hurt the campaign. "Damnit, Ronald, you told me you were being careful," Creed muttered.

His only hope now was that Maldrone would stay loyal and keep his mouth shut, and that he hadn't left anything incriminating behind to implicate Creed.

Creed nearly jumped when his cell-phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket, and tapped the touch screen, and found himself looking at the display, which showed an unfamiliar number.

He frowned to himself, tapped the display again, and brought it up to his ear. "Hello?"

"Graydon Creed?"

"Yes, who is this?"

"I don't know if I should say over the phone. I know your end is encrypted, but this side isn't. I'm the man that designed your little AI project…."

Creed's eyes widened – Lang something: Ronald had been better with the names as he was the one that dealt with them.

"Yes, no names," Creed said. "What the hell happened?"

"They found us. The AI projects were safely shipped to the base out west, but the base here that your assistant came out to is blown to bits – he activated the self destruct. I managed to escape, I was near the entrance point of the group attacking us and I went through the maintenance tunnels and got out. The news says he's been taken, getting charged."

Creed rubbed his forehead. "Do you know who it was?"

Lang hesitated for a moment. "I think it was S.H.I.E.L.D.. I've watched videos and demonstrations of a lot of tactics of special ops teams while designing our little project, which helped me set up the decision making process for the AIs, and it looked a lot like a S.H.I.E.L.D breaching tactic. The man we took had to be one of their agents. And Graydon, he was in there trying to get information out of him when they attacked, so I think they caught him red-handed. I doubt he's getting out of this ."

Creed let out a growl of frustration. "That's what I figured. Alright. Let me think."

Creed stared at the muted television in front of him, displaying his short "interview" as he had exited the limo, and tried to figure out a way to salvage everything.

"Are you still with us?" Creed finally asked.

"Yes," Lang answered. "I'm completely for the cause, Graydon. I knew this sort of thing could happen, and it doesn't change my mind."

Creed nodded, more to himself than to the man on the other end of the phone call. "Alright, I want you to go to the base out west. There's a man there by the name of Eli in charge of the base. I want you to make contact with him, and tell him that he is now in charge of all the operations, and to get into contact with me – he'll have much more secure methods at his disposal to contact me."

"And I want you to take over the AI project completely – you're in charge with improving them to make sure something like the last few days doesn't repeat itself, and getting as many of these units produced as you can. Keep full operations to a minimum, and when you do them, do them well away from the base – that way they can't trace them back to there."

"Yes, I can do that," Lang said, and Creed heard a hint of eagerness in his voice at the prospect of having full control over his project. Maldrone had wanted to keep it under his purview but Creed thought that the man that had actually _made _the S.E.N.T.I.N.E.L.s would be the best person for the job. "I'll need to lie low for a while until things cool down in the area, but I think I can get out west by next weekend."

"Good. I think our call has gone on a bit longer than I'm comfortable with. I'll await your and Eli's call next week." Creed said.

"You can count on me, Graydon – I'll make this better than they ever were with the government." Lang said, before hanging up the phone.

Creed sighed, and tossed the phone down on the bed next to him. At least this was good news – he still had someone to develop the project, as well as get into contact with his friend Eli Bard in Montana, where majority of their other projects were also taking place.

He ha been wondering just how he would get a signal to Eli without leaving any evidence of their initial contact – that had been Maldrone's job, as a middleman - and it had just provided itself with Lang.

Maldrone had been valuable, but hadn't been completely irreplaceable. Between Eli and Lang – if he turned out to be as ambitious and eager as he seemed – they would easily fill the void left by Ron.

And years from now, after he'd served his terms as president, and eliminated the mutant threat to the country, he would pardon his friend, and they could work together once more.

* * *

"It's good to see you are feeling better, Remy," Charles said with a small smile. He turned his gaze to the empty bed next to Remy's. "I take it Jubilee was released already?"

Remy shifted into a more comfortable position on the bed, wincing as the movement sent a flicker of pain from his bruised ribs. "_Oui_. Annie let her go an hour ago. She's still makin' me stay here overnight though," he said, disappointment in his voice.

Charles laughed. "Yes, Ororo told me you don't exactly like hospitals, even if they're a small place like this."

"You guys here to debrief me?" Remy asked, nodding toward Fury who had stood quietly next to Charles.

"Yes," Fury said. "Shouldn't take long. We just need to know if you can remember anything that Maldrone might have said that would help us get closer to getting Creed. He's refusing to speak about him, and pretty much clammed up since we got him."

Remy nodded. "I figured dat." He sighed. "Unfortunately he didn' say too much. Nothin' really about Creed in particular. I did get de idea dat they've got a whole lot more in de works than just dose robots of theirs. He was goin' on about dis bein' a war, one dat'll end wit' de extinction of mutants. Between de torture an' his ego, I didn' get much more off of him."

Fury sighed, but nodded. "Alright. Just making sure. We're charging him with a nice laundry list of things, and we're going over his private cell phone. One of our agents found a phone number on there that was the same as one in a number of the phones of the mercenaries arrested for the attack on the Manhattan tunnels a few months back, so we might be charging him for planning that as well, if we can push one of them to squeal with the new information. Besides that, terrorism, assault, torturing a federal agent, that sort of thing."

Fury grimaced slightly. "We're going to need you to come in a few months from now when the case is heard, and give your testimony. I can set it up as a private, identity-protected one, basically you in a booth on your own providing testimony. The judge'll go for that if it means protecting the identity of an 'undercover' S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, but it means you'll still need to be there."

Remy smiled grimly. "Dat'll be my pleasure. Get dat little prick locked up for de rest of his life."

Nick smiled back dangerously. "Yes, I've already told him I'm going to ensure his trial itself is publicized, and that he gets placed in The Vault – that's where we're storing all the collared mutants we arrested on Alcatraz."

Remy chuckled. "Damn, dat's gotta have him wettin' his pants."

Nick nodded. "Yeah, the look on his face was beyond priceless." He cleared his throat, and pulled something out of his trenchcoat pocket.

"Anyway, besides wondering if he told you anything, I'm here to present you with this."

He handed the object to Remy, who looked down to see a silver medal in the shape of the eagle on the S.H.I.E.L.D. emblem, surrounded by several clusters of stars.

"This is our Medal of Valor – any agent that goes through something like you did and comes back to us to keep serving gets one of these to honor your service. Unfortunately we don't like keeping them outside of base, so once you're done with it I'll need it back to put it in your official record. CIA does the same."

Remy nodded, staring at it for a moment longer, before handing it back. "Thanks, I understand. Don' think I'd really want to pin it up in my room anyway an' remind myself all de time about de last few days."

Fury smiled. "I understand, kid. I got more than my share when I served back in 'Nam. They're locked away somewhere now. My family'll get them when I'm gone – I got the memories as it is, and that's bad enough."

Fury leaned forward and firmly shook his hand. "You make a good S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Remy, and I'm proud to serve with you. I wasn't quite sure about you at first but you've more than proven yourself, that you can overcome how you were raised, and use your past for something good. We'll talk later – you get yourself better, alright?"

"Yes sir," Remy said, cocking him a jaunty salute.

Fury chuckled, tucked the medal back into his pocket, and turned quietly to leave the room, leaving Charles and Remy alone in the quiet Medlab.

"I'm sorry, Remy," Charles began, "my little 'one last mission before summer' ended up like this…."

Remy shook his head. "_Non_, it's not your fault. We did what we could with what we had, an' things didn't go as expected. No one could have known about dese robot things. Sometimes you get de best intel you can an' just work off of dat, an' sometimes it's jus' completely wrong. I've had enough botched jobs in de past to tell me dat."

Charles smiled slightly. "Unfortunately, you and I are too alike, and despite knowing that fact I'll still feel blame on myself for this, like you do for the tunnels. But, I just want you to know – if you ever want to talk about this, about what happened at that base, I'm here to listen. I know better than most what that is like – Danielle's father and I were amongst four other soldiers in our unit that spent several weeks in a POW camp in Vietnam before we were rescued."

Remy nodded, and then sighed. "No offense, Charles, but I don' think I'll take you up on dat offer. I… it's not exactly something I want to talk about."

"I understand," Charles said.

"An' besides, I'd much rather talk 'bout it to my girlfriend den you." Remy said.

Charles chuckled. "Well, as long as it's someone. I know she'll be more than willing to listen, and I know that this is the sort of thing you have to talk about to get over. You're lucky to have a girl like Rogue who cares about you like she does."

Remy smiled and settled back on the bed. "I know, Charles. I definitely know dat – sometimes I can' believe it's even real."

Charles nodded. "Well, I'll let you rest – perhaps I'll run into Annie and see if I can talk her into letting you out tonight."

Remy grinned. "Please. Dat'd be great." He said, and Charles turned his wheelchair, guiding it out of the room toward the door.

Remy groaned and shut his eyes, starting to settle back into a more comfortable position on the bed, when he heard the door slide open once more.

"Forget somethin', Charles?" He called out, amused.

"Losin' your touch, little brother?" Ororo's amused voice came from his side.

He snapped his eyes open, and grinned. "Guess so. Dese painkillers are really somthin' else. Wish I had dese on dat job when you tripped me an' broke my nose."

Ororo blushed slightly. "That was an accident," she protested.

Remy chuckled. "I know, _ma soeur_."

"You really okay?" She asked, moving to sit at the edge of the bed next to him, her eyes looking him over with concern.

Remy grimaced, and nodded. "Yeah. Few days an' I'll be back to normal."

Ororo moved a shaking hand up, and ran it along his cheek, rubbing along the unshaved stubble that made him look hauntingly like he had the day he'd first arrived at the mansion.

He winced slightly as her finger pressed against his split lip. "How much of this was because of this mouth of yours?" Ororo asked.

He grinned slightly. "Probably half. Ronnie didn' like bein' called 'Ronnie' too much, an' he really didn' like me mockin' him."

She looked at him exasperatedly, shaking her head. "That's what I figured. Kitty got us into the Purifier video system, and we got to see a bit of what they…. What they were doing to you. With the cattle prod..."

Remy nodded. "Ah, dat's probably 'bout when I commented on knowin' now de sort of kinky things dat he an' his wife did in bed."

Ororo let out a choked laugh. "Oh, Remy, what are we going to do with you? Even in that you can joke." She sighed. "I wish we could have looked at it the same way you were, but seeing that…."

Remy's eyes widened slightly. "'We'?" He repeated. "Who saw it?"

"Everyone. Including Rogue," she said, answering what she knew he was really asking. "She was… very upset, to say the least. We had to talk her down from charging straight in there by herself. She told us we had half an hour to plan and after that she was going in with or without us."

His expression softened, a small smile coming over his face. "Dat sounds like my Rogue."

"She was quite persuasive," Ororo said with a chuckle. "I'm surprised we came out of it with Maldrone alive."

She looked down, her voice low now. "I'm glad she volunteered for picking you up though…. I don't think I'd have had her restraint. I would have probably killed him. They'd be wiping up charred pieces of him for weeks."

"Hey," Remy said, placing his fingers under her chin, lifting up her face to reveal the tears running down her cheeks. "C'mere," he said, pulling her closer, into a firm hug.

He knew that was something she struggled with – had struggled with since before he'd met her: using her abilities to actually kill someone. She'd killed a friend accidentally during an argument when her powers had first emerged, and vowed to never do it again, and although she'd come close once or twice, she'd kept that vow thus far.

"S'ok, _ma soeur_, I know. It's alright now, I'm back an' safe, an' you didn' kill him."

"I – I know," she whispered, gripping his shoulders tightly. "I'm so glad you're okay, Remy. I know I told Rogue you would be fine, you were strong, but I still worried about what they might do, how far they might go – that I might lose you now that you're finally back in my life….."

"I know, Stormy. I love you, _ma soeur_ – I ain' goin' anywhere." Remy whispered into her ear, holding her tightly as she slowly calmed in his arms.

* * *

"Hey Pete, I've gotta head out, my flight's in a few hours," Kitty said, poking her head into his room.

Piotr's eyes widened, and he got up from his chair, walking across the room until he stood next to Kitty. "I forgot your flight was today. I'm leaving tomorrow."

Kitty nodded. "Yeah, Dani and I are taking a cab over – she's headin' back to Colorado. Just thought I'd come by and say bye. And thanks, for… everything. You've been a great friend, with the whole divorce thing, and my temporary craziness about finals, and helping out with the computers. I… thanks." She said, reaching out to grasp his hand for several moments, before pulling her hand away, blushing slightly.

"You're welcome, Kitty. I'm glad I could help you."

Kitty smiled, and then looked at her watch and gasped. "Dani'll kill me if I make her late for her flight. Gotta go. I'll call you or you call me – remember, crazy parent issues and all that, it'll be nice to get away with a good friend and forget about it all."

Piotr nodded and smiled back, patting his pocket. "I have your number, I'll call before they drive you crazy."

"Thanks Pete," she said. "You're awesome. Bye!"

She darted forward and kissed his cheek, before she waved and phased down through the floor of his room, leaving him standing there, frozen, trying to process exactly what just happened.

He finally grinned, and reached up to touch his cheek, where her warm lips had touched for just an instant.

'_Maybe I have a better chance than I originally thought_,' he mused, walking over to his bed.

* * *

"_There have been several more reports of mutants that claim to have taken the Cure, who now say their powers have returned, sometimes in a violent fashion, although none more violent than one several weeks ago who literally exploded, destroying a building and killing himself in the process."_

"_Several of these mutants," the reporter continued, "have added their names to a lawsuit growing in size, made up of mutants who say they were part of the original FDA studies of Worthington Industries. Worthington Sr. has refused to comment, but a PR spokesperson said they are looking into the claims but believe it is too early to draw any conclusions about their product."_

"_Meanwhile, nearly ten thousand doses of the cure have been distributed across the country and been used by the clinics they were shipped to. The overall response, especially after the attack by Magneto on the laboratory that produced the cure has been positive, even by many mutants, including those who are not seeking the Cure who feel the option should be available for those who cannot deal with their mutation or the discrimination it brings."_

"That doesn't sound very good," Lorna said to Warren, who sat on the couch next to her, his wing brushing her shoulder.

He shook his head. "I'll have to find out about it more when I go visit my dad later this month… "

She shot him a sympathetic look, and patted his arm. "It'll be alright – you don't have to live in his shadow anymore. You've got this Mutants Without Borders, and I think it will, in the long run at least, be even bigger than any Cure he could come up with. You'll be helping so many mutants."

He nodded, and smiled at her. "I know."

She nudged him playfully with her elbow. "You've already started, with Jubes, and haven't even officially started things up yet," she said with a grin. "Thanks, by the way, for saving her. I talked with Annie, and if you hadn't…. she wouldn't have made it," she said, her expression turning suddenly serious.

Warren smiled slightly, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I know. Jubes already hunted me down and thanked me. I still have to go find Annie," he said.

"Better do it soon or she'll think I never told you she wanted to talk about your blood."

He shook his head. "She really thinks that's what it was?"

Lorna nodded. "Yep. Apparently Jubes has never shown any sign of healing quickly like that, until the transfusion, so she's pretty sure it was you."

He frowned slightly. "I… I guess that sort of makes sense. I've had… incidents where I've healed rather quickly." He said, thinking back to the several times he'd cut his developing wings off. They'd come back just as quickly over the several days after he'd done it. And finally, his father had discovered him in the process of doing it, leading to his drive to develop the Cure

"Warren?" Lorna asked softly, seeing his expression. "You alright?"

He forced a grimace down, and nodded, trying to smile. "Yeah, just some bad memories. I'll…. I'll tell you about them sometime, but not now."

Lorna chewed on the inner skin of her cheek for a moment, and decided to let it go. "Alright."

Her eyes became playful, and she looked up at him. "Y'know, we never went on that date, with everything that was going on."

Warren sighed, and nodded. "I know, I'm sorry, I was feeling pretty weak with the transfusion…."

She swatted his arm. "I'm not mad at you, dummy, I was hinting that we should go out now that everything has calmed down."

"Oh…." Warren said, his cheeks flushing slightly. "Sorry. I'd definitely still like to go. How about tomorrow night?"

"Hmm, let me check my schedule," she said, grinning as she mimed checking an imaginary appointment book. "Well, guess what? I'm free. Until fall semester starts. Which means we have plenty of time."

Warren laughed. "I guess you have a point there. Tomorrow night then."

He sighed reluctantly, standing up, handing her the remote. "I'll be back in a bit, I should go find Annie."

"Alright," Lorna said, and thumbed the button to call up the TV guide as he left the room, shivering slightly as the tips of his wings swung around and brushed down her leg.

She turned, smiling slightly as she watched him leave – '_A very nice sight,_' she thought to herself, mentally thanking whoever had invented fitted jeans.

She just hoped things went as well the next night as she hoped for. Maybe, just maybe, she'd eventually have some 'juicy details' for her gossip-hungry friend, she thought, turning her attention back to the television.

* * *

_**Ronde Island, Grenada, In The Caribbean**_

"So, what do you think?" The realtor asked, nudging her thin, wire-rimmed glasses up her nose as her client climbed back aboard the boat they'd taken, having just returned from the shore of the island where they'd spent the last several hours walking and viewing it in its entirety.

"I like it," he replied. "It looked good on paper, and on the virtual tours, but visiting it – I think it's exactly what I need."

The brunette realtor smiled, her teeth a bright white in the hot sun of the Caribbean. "Now, like I said, it's 2000 acres, and as you saw, has never been developed, and rarely ever visited by anyone. It is the largest property available, _anywhere_."

The man nodded. "Yes. Now, the price is still a hundred million, like we discussed last week?"

She nodded back. "Certainly. Nothing has changed, the agreement and contract I sent you is exactly the same now as it was then." She let him ponder that for a moment. "So, are you going to buy it? I know you were rather eager when I found it for you…."

The man looked out across the azure water, teeming with tropical fish, and the occasional sea turtle, from where they were anchored at the edge of the small, shallow shelf that stretch out over a hundred feet from the shore. The island sat in an elongate shape, almost shaped like a tall rectangular box with a large bow on top, when looked at from above.

He stared at the gently-rolling, rocky hills of the island, which made it appear even bigger than it was, out at the tall palm trees and tropical plants that made it look like a lush, green paradise.

He finally nodded. "I'll take it. Now, what about the other two smaller islands. They're only a few thousand feet away from this one," he said, nodding toward one about a fifth of the size, and another even smaller.

"My, eager, aren't we?" She said, laughing. "They are both for sale as well. Ile de Caille, the larger one to the south is twenty million, and Diamond Rock – the smallest to the north is ten." She said.

"Caille, over there," she said pointing to the one to the south, covered in green vegetation, "is 400 acres, lots of nice small bays, plenty of beaches. A billionaire used to own it, but he sold it to us a few years back. There are four houses – uninhabited of course – and a 40,000 gallon water tank for water storage. Best of all, there is a dirt road network the man built across the island from beach to beach, as well as a fully functional air strip that can handle most small private jets."

The man's eyes lit up at that. "Very interesting…. Go on…"

"Diamond Island is much smaller, around 90 acres – I forget the exact specs on that one. Completely undeveloped. If you have the funds, I would certainly recommend doing it. Anyone else that buys them will be right on your 'backyard' as it were: with all three of them you wouldn't need to worry about having to get along with a 'neighbor'."

The man nodded, biting his lip. "That was my thought as well."

She allowed him to sit quietly, staring out at the three islands.

He finally nodded, and turned to her, grinning. "I'd like to take all three."

She grinned. "Very well, Mr. Eisenhardt," she said. "I'll get my laptop, and we can go through the contract once more and then get a transfer of funds, and we'll have everything in order."

"Great," he said with a lopsided smile, "and please, call me Joseph."

"Alright, Joseph," she said, slightly flirtatiously, looking at her client. He was young, only in his early thirties, his face rather dashing, his blue eyes standing out against his well-tanned skin – it was obvious he'd spent plenty of time in areas like this. The most surprising feature was his head of completely grey-white hair, that seemed totally at odds with his visible age. Sometimes, however, it was about genetics, she thought to herself. At least he was at an age where it made him look even more distinguished and mature.

They spent the next hour going over the contract, signing in spot after spot – buying an island was rather more complicated and involved than buying a house. She finally pulled out her laptop after filing away the contract and promising she'd get a copy sent off to him.

She hooked up the wireless through her cell-phone, and went to the realty's bank account, setting up for a funds transfer. She turned the laptop to him, and pointed to the screen. "Just confirm the price of one hundred-fifty-thousand with all the closing fees we spoke about, and then enter your bank account number."

He nodded, his tanned arms moving away from where they'd rested against his 'Hawaiian-shirt'-clad chest, and typed in a number.

She tilted her head, her eyes caught by a something on his arm. It was a small, roughly drawn tattoo, simply the numbers '24005', which looked like it had been done crudely by someone in a hurry. It also looked a lot like a type of tattoo she'd seen before – in photos from the Holocaust.

"Aren't you a little young for one of those, Joseph?" She asked quietly.

"Hmm?" he asked, looking up as he finished typing in the bank account number, and then followed her gaze. "Oh, that. Yeah, I am. Unfortunately I don't know where I got it from. I have complete amnesia, you see – I woke up one day not knowing who I was, with a simple hundred dollar bill in my pocket. I ended up getting a job, and that hundred dollars turned into the millions I have now. Perhaps I was a businessman in the past," he said with a slight smile. "As for the tattoo, maybe I had a relative in the Holocaust and I got it in memory of them." He shrugged.

She looked at him with a surprised expression. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize…."

"Don't be, I never told you, and I've rarely told _anyone_. Usually I just make up a story about my past when someone asks."

The laptop beeped, and she took advantage of the interruption to turn the discussion away from where she'd inadvertently taken it. She turned the screen back to her, and smiled when she saw the full sum in the bank account of her company.

"Well, Joseph, you are now the proud owner of these three islands. Do you have any plans yet, on what you're going to do with them?"

He nodded, smiling. "Yes, actually. I've been talking to the Grenada government for quite some time now about my plans since you told me about this island. They've agreed to let me treat it, basically, as my own little country. They'll let me do what I want with it, and I'll help them with some of the things they need."

Her eyebrows rose, not realizing he'd been in such contact with local officials. "I see. And what are your plans?"

"I'm going to develop Ronde Island. But I'm going to make most of my buildings earthen, underground ones – right below the surface of the island, so we can keep all this beautiful vegetation above them. With Caille Island, you mentioned that airstrip, which will save on building one here. That island will be an auxiliary one, and the arrival point, and Diamond Rock, I'm not sure yet. Perhaps keep it as a nature park."

"But, in the end, when I'm finished, this will be, basically, a nation of its own – an island refuge to my fellow mutants, any mutant that wishes to come and live here in peace, away from those that hate and persecute them in the outside world." Joseph concluded.

"Wow," she said, both at his ambitions and at the fact that he was a mutant – something she hadn't known. "That's…. actually a really nice idea."

He smiled. "It's been my dream since I found myself as a mutant after I woke up, and saw how we were treated. And now, thanks to your assistance today, that dream is finally coming true. Thank you, Linda," he said, taking her hand, bending over it and planting a kiss on the back of it.

She blushed. "You're welcome. Maybe you'll invite me over sometime, when you finish. I always like to see how my buyers are enjoying their property, and what they've done with it. Are you going to keep the island names as they are?"

"It'd be a pleasure – expect an invitation." He paused, looking back out at the island. "No, I'm going to rename the islands under one single name, to symbolize this little 'country'."

"What are you going to call it?" she asked, curious.

He smiled, and looked back at her after several moments, replying.

"Genosha."

* * *

Remy laid back against the roof on his favorite spot, staring up at the cloud-filled night sky. The day had been exhausting. After Ororo had left, he'd been greeted by a slow stream of visitors, first by Lorna, then Kitty, and the rest of the students, all wishing him to get better quickly, before a number of them got ready to leave for the summer.

He took a long drag on his Djarum cigarette, savoring the flavor of the smoke, before slowly releasing it out the side of his mouth. He cocked his head to the side when he heard a noise from one of the balconies, and then smiled when he recognized it as Rogue's voice.

Moments later, she floated up over the edge of the gutter, Sarah gripping her shoulders tightly until Rogue finally settled down on the roof.

"Hey," Remy said quietly, and flicked his half-used cigarette away with a tiny bit of his power, causing it to glow and let off a slight 'pop' as it disintegrated into dust.

"Remy, I was lookin' for ya," Sarah said, letting go of Rogue and rushing over to sit down next to him on the roof.

Rogue crossed her arms and looked down at him sternly. "Did Annie let yah out?"

Remy grinned slightly. "Well… not _officially_…"

Rogue rolled her eyes. "Which means yah ignored her an' took off without askin' anyone. You're impossible."

Remy grinned. "I know. But now I have _ma infirmiére_ up here wit' me, an' she can keep me under observation up here instead of in dat hospital bed."

Rogue sighed. "Alright," she said, and sank down onto the roof on the other side of him. "Ah'll tell Annie Ah found yah an' watched yah, but Ah'm not savin' yah from her – she's gonna be pissed."

Remy smiled. "Thanks, _ma Chére_. I jus' couldn't stand lyin' dere anymore. Needed to get out an' get some air. Think."

Rogue's glare softened, and she nodded, running her hand gently along his arm. "Ah know, Sugah."

Sarah looked up at the two of them. "Can we sleep up here again? I like it when we do that…."

Remy laughed, and slowly moved his arm to place it around her, letting her rest her head in the crook of his shoulder, and then did the same for Rogue, who turned on her side and rested her palm on his chest, her cheek against his shoulder. "Course we can, _petite_. Don' wanna sleep any other way tonight. You two kept me goin' de last few days, I want to be near you two for as long as I can."

"We did?" Sarah asked innocently, looking up at him with interest.

Remy nodded, and bent his head slightly to kiss her bangs. "_Oui_. Whenever I started feelin' bad 'bout what happened, I jus' thought of you two an' I was ready for anythin' dey had planned for me."

"Glad I helped ya, Remy," Sarah said, snuggling closer, and closing her eyes.

"You did. More'n you'll ever know. Good night, _petite_," he said.

"G'night Remy, n'Rogue," she mumbled sleepily.

Remy glanced over to Rogue, exchanging a grin with her as he felt Sarah's breath evening out lightly against his chest.

"Dat was quick," he murmured.

"Ah'm not surprised," Rogue said softly. "She was up with Lorna until after three in th'mornin' they – couldn' sleep until they heard how yah were. Ah got her to go to sleep, but then she was awake at seven-thirty, draggin' me down to th'basement to see if you'd woken up."

Remy grimaced. "Damn. Didn' realize dat."

She moved her hand, rubbing slow, small circles along his chest with her palm. "She was an even bigger mess when she heard yah'd been taken by them. Ah found her out hidin' in the stables, cryin' her eyes out. She thought yah weren't comin' back." Rogue shook her head. "We slept in your room that night, an' she had a lot of bad nightmares."

Remy nodded. "I think it's part what happened to her mom, an' den to her friends in de tunnels. She's really scared of bein' left alone like dat, an' I don' blame her."

Rogue shrugged slightly. "Ah guess. But how do yah explain me? Ah felt th'same. Maybe it's jus' how we feel about yah."

Remy shifted slightly, allowing him to turn slightly toward her while remaining as a pillow for Sarah. "Maybe," he said quietly, running his injured left hand, still bandaged, down her side, using the arm to pull her closer to him so he could kiss her forehead.

"Remy, yah tol' me somethin' last night. After Ah brought yah back to the jet, right b'fore yah passed out."

Remy looked at her, slightly confused, trying to bring back his hazy memory of the time. "What'd I tell you?"

"Well," Rogue said, biting her lip for a moment. "Yah tol' me yah wanted to tell me a secret…."

Remy's brow furrowed, and then the memory came up clearly – or at least as clearly as possible given his mental state at the time. "Ah. Then I said _Je t'aime_…"

Rogue nodded, looking up at him hesitantly.

"I meant it, _Chére_, even if I was a bit delirious. I love you, so much, Rogue. You're… I never met someone like you – it's like... Well, I know it's probably pretty corny, but it's like you're de other half of me."

Rogue's breath caught in her throat, and her arm around him tightened. "Ah… you're right, it's a little corny, but it's also really sweet. Ah've just…. Ah've felt the same for a long time now. Ah think Ah first realized it at Dani's house, lyin' in bed with you an' Sarah," she said, her voice shaking slightly.

"Ah love yah Remy. An' Ah wish Ah'd been brave enough ta say it to yah before. That was the thing that scared me th'most. That we might not be able ta find yah in time…. And yah'd never know." Tears came to her eyes and were blinked away swiftly.

He shook his head gently, and leaned his forehead down against hers for a moment, the tingling exchange of energy warming and calming her. "I knew, _Chére_. I knew in de way you looked at me, an' acted, even if we never said it out loud."

Rogue shot him a watery smile. "Doesn't beat hearin' it though…"

Remy chuckled slightly. "Well I'll say it again den – I love you, _Chére_."

She sighed happily against his shirt, closing her eyes.

"Should have tol' you too, way back, but…. I ain' had de best track record wit' dose words. Most of de time it ends wit' my heart stomped on, so I've always been a little hesitant, even when I know it's de truth, an' even when I know you're not goin' to do de same to me."

Rogue nodded. "Ah figured. Ororo tol' me the night yah came down to th'kitchen after yah came here, that yah'd been hurt in relationships b'fore. Guess it's good, we both know how it feels, an' wouldn' want t'do it to each other because of that."

Remy smiled, and shifted again to press his lips against hers in a long, slow kiss.

She felt herself melt against him, her fingers curling slightly against his chest, and she returned the kiss passionately, trying to make it last as long as she could.

She finally reluctantly began to pull away when she felt the energy build, signaling that she was absorbing him to his limits, when he shocked her.

He pulled back for a moment, gasping, and then leaned forward and kissed her again, pulling his charge out through her lips and back into himself, letting him continue with his regained energy. His arm behind her back tightened, pressing her closer against his firm body, and she felt warmth not related to his mutation begin to grow inside her.

They both finally pulled apart, gasping, when they reached the time limit again, and Remy lazily pulled the charge back from her hands this time, looking slightly exhausted.

"R-Remy," Rogue said, her cheeks pink. "Ah – what was that?"

Remy gave her a tired grin. "Jus' somethin' I wanted to try. Been workin' to get better at pullin' back my energy. Actually probably could do it a third time if you want…." He trailed off, cocking an eyebrow.

She smiled, tears in her eyes once again. "Yah know, yah are such a sweet man, Remy LeBeau. Ah'd love that, but yah have to keep your energy up t'get better, an' Ah don' wanna set yah back. Maybe once you're healin' up a bit more?"

Remy groaned slightly, and let her nuzzle the top of her head up under his chin, protected by the brown and white locks of hair creating a barrier between them. "Dat's a promise, _Chére_." He said, yawning slightly.

She patted her hand against his chest. "Go to sleep, Sugah, yah need it."

"Sweet dreams, _mon amour_," Remy said.

"Love ya," Rogue said, the words slipping out so easily now that it seemed crazy to her that she'd not been able to say them before.

As the two young lovers fell asleep, their companion on the roof allowed a small smile to cross her face – Sarah had feigned sleep on Remy's shoulder, wanting to give them time by themselves, and not worry about her.

Her little 'family', mish-mashed and patchwork as it was, was finally completely whole, and she never wanted that to change.

And then, of course, there was the relief at no longer feeling like whacking them over their heads to get them to tell each other how they felt, she thought with a contented grin.

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_**A/N:**__ Hey guys, hope you liked it. Dropped in a few hints of upcoming storylines in the sequel, but there are many, many more coming._

_Who is Joseph Eisenhardt? Hmmmm…. You'll just have to wait and see (Ronde Island is real, and for sale right now for 100 million – so is Caille for the price I said, but Diamond Rock isn't for sale. If anyone is interested in buying a private island, LOL). My own little take on Genosha as a 'movieverse' version – don't worry, we'll find out much more in the sequel about Genosha and its new owner. _

_As you can see, Lang and Creed will continue to be problems for our team, and we'll soon see Eli Bard and possibly some of the other projects the Purifiers are getting involved with._

_Sadly, we come to an end of this fic, which I started nearly quite a while ago. It's a bit bittersweet, finally coming to an end – sad that it's ending, but great that I've got the sequel to work on. If you'd asked me way back then when I started, I'd never have predicted the fic would be this long (35 chapters, 360+ thousand words long). _

_In fact, my original plan would have seen this fic ending with an epilogue after the Alcatraz chapter (basically ending around where the movie ended), and then possibly a sequel involving SENTINELs. It wasn't until I neared that point that I decided that it needed to be lengthened by quite a bit just to continue everything I was working through, and eventually that it needed to have an entire sequel beyond anything I'd planned._

_Anyway, thanks a bunch to all you readers out there, and especially to all you reviewers who have given me such great feedback. While I don't write for the reviews, I doubt this would have become what it is without your support and all the love you've given for this story._

_So, thanks again, and I'll see you guys with the sequel, which should be out in a week or so. It'll be set a month or two in the future, a bit before school starts up, and we'll see what's been going on over the summer, with some flashbacks in places. _

_The sequel will be titled: "_**X4 – The Queen of Hearts**_". See you guys in the sequel!_


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